


Following The Heart

by p45cuddles



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/F, F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-19
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 22:41:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 40,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21996634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/p45cuddles/pseuds/p45cuddles
Summary: What happens if one of our hero's accidentally found out the other's secret identity? What would they do? How would they cope? Ladybug and Chat Noir's working relationship, trust, friendship and loyalty are put to the ultimate test. Will their relationship survive, take the next step or will all the bridges between them be burnt and ruined forever?
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	1. Chapter 1 - Warmonger

**Author's Note:**

> A MariChat / Adrienette Fanfiction Story  
> Co-written by p45cuddles & Willz
> 
> I do not own anything from the show "Miraculous Ladybug" apart from this plot and some of the characters and/or details. All the credit and rights belong to their rightful owner, Thomas Astruc.

### Chapter 1 - Warmonger

"Have you got any ideas where the Akuma might be hidden, M'Lady?" Chat Noir asks Ladybug, as the duo take a quick retreat from their latest Akuma victim on a nearby rooftop.

"I haven't quite worked that out yet Chat" Ladybug sounded unusually confused, "Something feels off and I can't put my finger on it"

"Yeah, I don't think we've ever come up against an Akuma this strong before, have we?"

"No. Something really horrible must have happened to him for his emotions to control such strong powers. We have to be very careful to not be hit by his blasts, it could be the difference between winning and losing this fight!"

"Shall we try and get a better look so we can work out where his Akuma might be hidden?"

"Well, let's see what we know first. His powers are controlling people's emotions. Anyone showing love or a strong friendship bond when they get hit by the blasts have become enraged and caused widespread chaos. Everyone else who has been hit by the blasts has become his servants and captured anyone, not under his spell."

"It sounds to me M'Lady, that our victim has had something happen with or to someone very close to him. Do we have any clues as to who our victim is so it can help us solve our little riddle?"

"Now that you mention it, I remember seeing two friends getting into a bit of a physical fight in the park this morning. I was in my civilian form so I couldn't stop to help, but Lieutenant Raincomprix and Officer Malone got there in time before things got too heated between them. Both boys were taken back to the station for questioning, so maybe one is still back at the station untouched by the Akuma?"

"Hmm, Interesting" Chat said, thinking out loud, "a friend of mine mentioned something about that this morning, but I didn't think much of it at the time. He did mention something about fighting over a girl? I think? A couple of senior students that go to Françoise Dupont High School. I think their names were Jovah and Pascale."

"Oh no, I think I know who our victim is! It's Jovah! And the girl that you're referring to is Odette"

In the distance, loud blood-curdling shrieks can be heard once more, as more civilians are hit by the Akuma victim's blasts. Ladybug and Chat Noir both start bolting towards the direction that they heard the shrieks coming from, the Louvre.

The pair stopped on one of the rooftops of a nearby building so that they don't alert the victim of their arrival. There, they find Odette, hands behind her back and feet both bound with rope and kneeling on the ground near the Louvre's entrance, begging Jovah for forgiveness of the misunderstanding.

"I am no longer this Jovah you call me; the name is Warmonger!" He angrily replied, "Why should I listen to you after everything I ever did was for you!"

"Well, things seem to be a little heated up down there, that heated that you could almost say it's cat-a-strophic!" Chat Noir said leaning in towards Ladybug wiggling his eyebrows waiting for a response of some kind from her.

"Really Kitty, you need to work on your tack and timing of your silly puns!" Ladybug replied as she rolled her eyes at Chat's comment. "So, now that we know the people involved, where could that Akuma be hiding?" she said, as Ladybug opens her yo-yo to zoom in on the screen for a better view of Warmonger.

"Look, Kitty, there" Ladybug exclaimed, pointing to the screen where she noticed a small band wrapped around Warmonger's left wrist. "Is that what I think it is? A friendship bracelet?" Ladybug then zooms in on Odette and sees that she too is wearing the same bracelet. "That can't be just a coincidence, can it?"

"What do you mean, Bugaboo?"

"Well, usually friendship bracelets, especially a handmade one like that, come from having a really strong relationship with the other person, a bond from the heart. Which makes me wonder, given the extent of the current situation, I think that Jovah might want more from their relationship but keeps his emotions hidden in fear that he might lose Odette forever if they do come to the surface"

"Ok, so how does this involve Pascale then?"

"Obviously, something happened between Pascale and Odette. Though, surely Jovah should have mentioned something about how he really feels about Odette to Pascale, unless, he had been keeping all his emotions to himself, which would explain why Warmonger is as strong as he is because of all Jovah's bottled emotions!"

Chat nods in agreeance as his fingers stroke his chin, "So, what's the plan then, M'Lady?"

"We need to figure out a way to distract him long enough for us to get down there and get to his bracelet without been hit by his blasts"

"I have an idea that includes Warmonger's hostage. It could be risky, but it's worth a shot? Or, we could see what that lucky charm of yours has installed for us today, Bugaboo" Chat says while wiggling his eyebrows once again.

Ladybug rolls her eyes "Here's hoping that it's something we can use to get the job done quicker!" She grabs her yo-yo and throws it up into the air, "Lucky Charm!". A small red and black spotted object appears and falls into her hands. "Hmmm" as she looks the thick oval-shaped object over before she locates a hidden blade down one of the long sides, "So, what exactly was your idea Chat, and how could we use this pocket knife to fight Warmonger?" Ladybug said, now curious in Chat's plan, but a little confused by the pocket knife that her miraculous had given her.

"If you're right about Jovah having romantic feelings for Odette, then maybe we can get Warmonger distracted by getting Odette to kiss him long enough for us to cut off the bracelet?"

"Hmm, an interesting concept" Ladybug replied while thinking it all through. "Two things though, one, how are we going to get down there without being noticed and two, how are we going to get Odette to kiss him?"

"Ok, how about this. Phase 1, I lure Warmonger away for a bit while you talk to Odette about the plan and convince her to help us out? We can stay in contact with our coms, that way I know when you're in the clear and I'll lead him back here ready for phase 2." Chat replies, puffing his chest out proudly before removing his earpiece from the bottom of his staff.

Ladybug removes her earpiece from her yo-yo and the duo checked to make sure they're working properly. "Ok, then phase 2 would be getting Odette to sweet talk Warmonger without raising too much suspicion and lure him in for a big kiss"

"Yes, then phase 3 is you sneak up from behind, cut the bracelet off with the pocket knife releasing the Akuma, then purify the Akuma and everything goes back to normal"

"Sounds like a plan! Now, let's make it happen"

Ladybug and Chat Noir both head off in opposite directions, Ladybug setting herself up on the building rooftop at the backside of the Louvre while Chat Noir sets himself on top of the building opposite the front. "Are you all set to go, Kitty?" Ladybug checked, to see if they were both in position and ready to put phase 1 into action.

"Ready as I'll ever be, M'Lady." Chat replied, preparing himself to play the 'Chat' and mouse game. "I'm going to lure Warmonger down towards the Eiffel Tower and hold him there as long as possible. Let's keep the line open so I can hear what's happening with you and Odette and I can warn you if I run into any problems along the way."

"Ok, when you're ready, you take the lead. Good luck Chat Noir!"

Chat takes one last look around at the obstacle course that he is about to enter, muttering to himself, "Please let this work! Please let this work! I can't let M'Lady down!" and with a final breath, he volts himself off the rooftop and lands 100 metres in front of the Louvre entrance.

"Well I've heard of lovesick tantrums before but this one is simply cat-a-strophic!"

Warmonger whips around and throws one of his blasts in Chat's direction. "Missed me!" Chat says as he jumps out of the way.

"Stay still you annoying little lovesick pest! Don't think I don't know how you really feel for your beloved Bug" Warmonger says angrily before sending off a series of consecutive blast in Chat direction.

"Missed Me! Missed me again! Geez, you must have done purrrity pawly during your archery classes last week!" Chat crows as he starts to lead Warmonger unknowingly down the street towards the Eiffel Tower, as Warmonger become more and more frustrated by the energetic Kitty.

Once the two of them were out of sight, Ladybug races down to Odette's side. "LADYBUG! What's happened to Jovah? He's scaring me! Can you get me out of these binds?" She squealed trying to get a million questions out at once.

"Shh, slow down, it's going to be ok but I'm going to need your help. Do you think you can do that for me?" Ladybug says in a calm but urgent voice. Odette silently nods her head in agreeance. "But before we do, did anything, in particular, happen between Pascale and yourself over the past day or two?"

"Why? what happened? I'm confused?" Odette raced, then a little sheepishly "Um, yes" just like a little kid been caught red-handed, stealing a cookie from a cookie jar.

Ladybug facepalms herself and thinks 'REALLY! This girl is as clueless as they come!'

"Odette, do you even realise that you're at the centre of a major fight that Jovah had with Pascale this morning? Whatever happened between you and Pascale, I need to know"

Odette squirmed trying to get away from answering Ladybug's question but realised that she's got nowhere to hide, she's stuck where she is. "Um, Ok, Well, Pascale and I were in the middle of working on a History project in the library together after school. All of a sudden, I realised that he was a little too close for my comfort, that's when I went to move. Pascale grabbed me and pulled me into a kiss. As soon as I realised what was going on, I pushed him off me, grabbed my things and ran all the way home crying. Pascale knew I had feelings for someone else, so why did he do it?" She said starting to sob all over again.

"Who Odette? Who is it that you like?" Ladybug asks as she starts praying in her head 'Please be Jovah! Please be Jovah!'

A red hue crept across Odette's face as she shied away "It's… it's… it's him" she sighs "It's Jovah"

A sigh of relief helped Ladybug to relax, if only for a split second, "Well that's going to help our plan to work even more so"

"What do you mean? I never acted on my feeling towards Jovah because I was too scared that it would damage the amazing relationship we already share right now."

"Did you know the feelings are mutual? That's why Warmonger's powers are so strong because he kept all the love and the hurt to himself because he too did not want to lose the bond that you both share."

"N…No, I didn't" Odette replied sounding disappointed "So what was your plan and how does it involve me?"

"We know that his Akuma is hidden in the friendship bracelet that he wears. We need to distract him enough to get it off him so that we can release the Akuma. We were hoping that if he was distracted with a passionate kiss, it would give us enough time to cut it off him with my pocket knife"

"Sure thing, I can do that. I'll finally be able to confess to him and hopefully, we can finally be something other than just friends. Um, any chance you could free me first though?"

"Sorry Odette, I can't. We need to make him think that nothing has changed since he left so that he doesn't suspect that this is a setup."

"Oh, yeah, I kind of forgot about that. Thanks for the reminder."

"If anything, make it look like you've tried to move to untie yourself. When he returns, don't be afraid to show and tell him how scared he is making you, it should make him stop and realise that scaring you isn't something he wants to do to you and his softer side will come out. When it does, that's when you should confess to him about how you feel. Then if all goes according to plan, Jovah will want to kiss you, we'll cut the bracelet off and I can purify the Akuma. Got it?" Ladybug says with great confidence. "Quick, they're coming!"

"Yep, all set to go" Odette replies as Ladybug runs off to hide nearby ready for phase 2 to commence.

Meanwhile, Chat Noir had been sending Warmonger all around the streets of Paris, though he was not sure by now who was leading who anymore. Every time Chat went to head down another street, Warmonger had thrown a blast out that way causing him to suddenly change directions "Hey Bugaboo, now would be a good time to hide just in case we suddenly show up again. I have a feline that he's trying to lead me back to the open space near the Louvre."

"You're in the clear here Kitty. Odette is 100% on board and we're ready for phase 2 to commence."

Chat, relieved by Ladybug's words was not yet out of trouble. "Oof," he thought "That's getting a little to close for comfort. Let's hope I can make it back before I lose too much more of my speed." As he only just managed to miss one of Warmonger's blasts by an inch.

Just as Chat could see the Louvre at the end of the street he had just turned onto, "BAM!" Chat was sent flying through the air and landed badly from one of Warmonger's blasts.

"Mwaah haa haa haa! At last, you are MINE! And now to go and take care of that pesky little bug of yours, then Paris will be MINE!" Warmonger crows.

"Ladybug will stop you! Argh!" Chat yells at him! "She always does!"

"Argh! Ladybug! I've been hit!" Chat exclaims into the com piece in excruciating pain as his system feels like it's being torn to shreds yet his miraculous is helping him to try and keep control. "I'm sorry M'Lady, I failed. You're going to have to finish this off on your own" His final words were calm and sincere.

"CHAT! NO!" Ladybug screamed as a sudden burst of panic washed over her before her worst fears were confirmed by the frightful screams that came down the earpiece signalling to Ladybug that the Akuma blast had finally won and taken over his body.

"Great! Things just got a little bit harder" Ladybug said to herself as she reached for her yo-yo and checked her tracking app to locate Chat's whereabouts. 'Great, the signal's still working. That means I can track him to see where he's going.' Ladybug thinks to herself, 'OH, NO! That's not good! He's heading straight for us!' as panic starts to rise up in her once again.

At that same moment, Odette let out a scream to alert Ladybug that Warmonger had arrived back to the Louvre and that he had noticed that Odette had managed to wiggle her way a short distance from where he had left her. "And where did you think you were going, Missy!" Warmonger's stern voice boomed at Odette.

Odette let out another squeal as Warmonger approached her, now with tears of fear rolling down her cheeks as Warmonger picked her up and threw her over his shoulder "Please Jovah, please! You're really scaring me!" She sob, "I never meant to hurt you and yet somehow I have. I love you too much to ever want to hurt you! I so sorry Jovah!" Odette sob, now completely hysterical.

Warmonger freezes mid-stride unsure now on how to proceed. He slowly lowers Odette to the ground so she can stand. "W… What did you just say?"

"I'm sorry Jovah" Odette sobbed, with her head still hanging looking at the ground.

"No, not that"

Odette stopped and wiped the tears from her face, "You're scaring me?" now puzzled as to what she could have said at that moment to make him question her this way.

"No, not that either"

"What else did I say", Odette thinks to herself 'oh, did I say that out loud.' In a puzzled yet curious voice, she asks "I love you?" closing her eyes and too scared to look up at him in fear of rejection. The next thing she feels is someone's arm around her waist as she's been yanked away. Odette immediately opens her eyes to see herself flying through the air, with Chat Noir.

"Why you pesky little kitten!" Warmonger now fuming.

As Chat jumps from rooftop to rooftop carrying Odette, confused she asks "Um, Chat Noir? I'm pretty sure this wasn't part of the plan?"

Chat stops and turns to look at her with a purple hue to his face and purple eyes "Plans change"

Ladybug watches on in complete shock before realising the opportunity that Chat has unintentionally left open for her. While Warmonger is so distracted by Chat Noir getting away with Odette, Ladybug quickly throws her yo-yo and restrains Warmonger. By the time he realises what has happened and goes to make an attempt to break free, Ladybug has walked up to him with the pocket knife and cut off his friendship bracelet releasing the Akuma "NNNNOOOOOO!" Warmonger cries.

"No more evil doings for you little Akuma" as Ladybug throws her yo-yo to capture the now trying to escape purple butterfly, "Time to de-evilize!". She retracts the yo-yo back to her hand and opens it up, "Bye, bye little butterfly". "MIRACULOUS LADYBUG" she yells out as she throws the closed pocket knife up in the air as everything resets itself to how it should be.

Chat Noir finally comes out of his trance and notices straight away that something isn't right, "What am I doing here? Why does it look like I was kidnapping you? Shouldn't we be at the Louvre?"

Before Odette had a chance to answer, "Kitty, are you there? Are you and Odette both Ok?" Ladybug's voice comes through his earpiece.

"You don't know how happy it makes me feel to hear your voice again M'Lady"

"Can you make it back to the Louvre fast? I haven't got long before I detransform" she replied with an extremely urgent voice.

"We'll be there in a flash"

"Good" Ladybug said to herself as she found Jovah's now repaired friendship bracelet.

"Ladybug! What are you doing here? What happened?"

"You were akumatized Jovah, but everything's going to be ok now." Ladybug hands over the friendship bracelet, "I believe this belongs to you?"

"Yeah, I don't know what I'd do if I ever lost it! The person who gave it to me means the world to me." Jovah said taking the bracelet from Ladybug, bringing it to his chest as he inhaled with his eyes closed to picture her in his mind before exhaling and reattaching the bracelet to his wrist.

"Jovah, you should really tell this person how you feel about her" at that moment, Chat arrives with Odette safely in his arms, "She's waiting for you, you know". Jovah's eyes open wide at the comment as Ladybug steps away towards Chat. At the same time, Odette jumps straight out of Chat's arms and sprints towards Jovah leaping into his arms squeezing him tightly before briefly breaking away and kissing him on the lips.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
**Hey Guys,**

**Just so you all know, this is my first attempt at writing a fanfiction story so I hope you like it so far. Please let me know what you think, I would love to hear your feedback and thank you to those who have left feedback or reviews.**


	2. Chapter 2 - Accidental Discovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the tense Akuma fight and the quick exit by his lady, Chat Noir now has the opportunity to go and check on his Princess, Marinette after the events that had occurred earlier in the day. But when he gets close to the Dupain-Cheng's residence, Chat's world is turned upsidedown.

###  **Chapter 2 – Accidental Discovery**

"Pound it"

"Well, if they didn't know how they felt about each other before, they certainly do now!" Chat remarked as the duo looked back at the pair.

Beep Beep, Beep Beep. Ladybug reached up to touch her earring, acknowledging that her time was running out.

"Sorry, Kitty, gotta fly before I detransform", Ladybug says with an urgent tone in her voice as she reaches for her yo-yo and sends it flying, ready to jump away into the night, "Bug Out!".

Chat Noir goes to reach out to her then changes his mind. "Goodnight M'Lady", he says in a disappointed tone as Ladybug has already disappeared into the night without waiting for his response. He takes a deep breath, lets it all out and shakes his head back to reality, "My job's not yet done for the night. Time to check on my Princess" he says, cheering himself up a little.

Chat always enjoyed his visits to Marinette's. She always made him feel warm and that he belonged, unlike how Adrien is always cast aside like a dirty old sweater by his father and made to feel like an afterthought. "Almost there!" he reassured himself as he jumped and vaulted from rooftop to rooftop.

He stopped on the rooftop of the house opposite the Dupain-Cheng residence to compose himself like always and was just about ready to make the jump over to Marinette's balcony when he saw a flash of red light come from Marinette's room. "No…. it can't be" Chat stopped and went cold. "That light," he thought to himself, "It couldn't be…. could it?"

Without a second thought, Chat found himself on the rooftop of the Dupain-Cheng's taking a breath before the moment of truth. He slowly brought himself up to one of the windows outside Marinette's bedroom and peered inside. At first, Chat was puzzled as he saw Marinette in the middle of her bedroom, pacing backwards and forwards in the middle of a serious conversation that looked to be with herself.

He sighed and moved back out of sight from the window, "I thought it was too good to be true" but then, he heard a second voice, "but she was on her own a second ago, wasn't she?". Chat raced back to the window to find Marinette still pacing but randomly glancing over to her desk. He followed Marinette's line of sight to her desk and noticed what looked to be a red plush toy of some kind moving on a plate with what looked to be a chocolate chip cookie. The red plush suddenly flew up off the plate and stopped up near Marinette's face and looked to be wiping away a tear that had rolled down from her cheek.

"It's ok Marinette, I promise that everything will work out in time. You just need to have a little more faith in yourself" The red plush exclaimed.

"Yes… but… arghhhh! Why does everything have to be so complicated Tikki?" Marinette replied to the red plush, clearly frustrated by the events that had occurred earlier that day. "I have enough trouble trying to make small talk with him without Chloe and Sabrina laughing and throwing insults at me," Marinette says, her voice starting to get rather heated by the situation at hand.

"Marinette, you need to calm down! You'd be no good to Chat Noir in this state if you got yourself akumatized!"

Marinette sighed "Yeah, you're right Tikki. What would I ever do without you". The pair embraced in a hug, then Tikki returned to the plate to finish off her cookie.

Chat once again moved away from the window out of sight. 'Ok,' he thought to himself as he started to replay the scene that just happened in front of him. 'So, the flying red plush looking toy must be Tikki. Now, I remember Plagg mentioning the name Tikki before… Arghhh, come on brain, work for me please!' as Chat starts to hit himself in the side of the head with his hand, in hope that it might jog his memory. 'Ahh, that's it, now I remember. He'd mentioned something about the name of Ladybug's Kwami being Tikki.'

'Ok, let's not jump to conclusions just yet but it does explain some of her strange absences like mine. Her bizarre stories of why she's late to class some days, how she's yet to be an Akuma victim and how she never seems to be around when an Akuma appears.' Chat sighed as a whirlwind of thoughts started spinning round in his head 'I can talk about this with Plagg later but right now I need to check that my Princess is ok'.

With another deep breath to once again compose himself, Chat vaulted up onto Marinette's balcony and tapped on the window.

Tap, tap, tap. "Quick, Tikki hide" Marinette whispered to her Kwami. Marinette made her way to the balcony hatch and slowly opened it to reveal a smiling Chat Noir on the other side.

"Evening Purrrincess"

"Hi, Chat Noir. To what do I owe the pleasure of your presence this evening?"

"I heard that you had a purretty rough day at school today, so… I wanted to check in on you to make sure that you're ok?"

"Oh" Marinette recoiled "You heard about that"

"Do you want to talk about it? I might be able to help you out coming from a different perspective" Chat suggested, realising that she was bothered by the day's events.

"Sure, come on in" Marinette gestured "Do you need anything? Something to eat or drink? I was just about to get a snack when you knocked"

"Yes please Purrrincess, would you like some help bringing them up?"

"No thanks, I can manage. Besides, I won't be that long" Marinette called out as she raced down her trap door to the kitchen area.

Chat stood in the middle of her room, unsure of what he should be doing and started looking around, really taking in his surroundings. He had been in Marinette's room many a time before but this time, things felt different. He felt the need to take everything he could see in and everywhere he looked, there was a different part of Marinette's character and personality that he could make out. From her sewing machine with a project she was working on sitting next to it, to her desk with her school books, tonight's homework ready to work on and her computer, to the strange little dolls house in the corner of her room.

Chat started to look at some of the fashion designs that Marinette had drawn and pinned up on her wall above her sewing machine and followed them back towards her desk then stopped dead in his tracks. It was a poster of him, in his civilian form from the latest fashion magazine and next to it was the one from last month. He took a step back, eyes widened to see that the wall was covered with posters of Adrien Agreste.

"Chat Noir, could you grab this for me please?" Marinette called, snapping him back to the present. He raced over to grab the tray from her as she tried to step back up through the trap door, then Marinette gently closed it behind her.

He carefully placed the tray down on her desk "Thank you. I heard that the Akuma alert was over so I wasn't sure if you'd need any sustenance after the fight" Marinette started.

"Thanks, Purrincess, you must have read my mind" Chat replied, "I wish there were more people out there in the world like you Marinette. Kind, caring and always putting the needs of other people before your own".

A slight blush made its way across Marinette's cheeks as she turned away praying that he hadn't noticed how his kind words had affected her. "Thank you Chat Noir, but I think my clumsiness and awkwardness is more than enough for the world to handle".

"Oh, Marinette" He sighed, "If only you knew how those around you truly see you, not as the clumsy class clutz but as a girl with many talents and a heart of gold".

Marinette smiled and handed him a glass of milk and offered him the plate of chocolate chip cookies. "Thank you," Chat said as he took a cookie off the plate and had a mouthful of his milk, "Now, what seems to be bothering you enough to have made you cry?" as he sat down on the chaise and patted the space next to him, inviting her to join him.

"Me… been crying… no no no…"

"Purrincess… don't lie to me" He said with a serious tone and stern look on his face, "I can see it in your bluebell eyes".

Marinette stopped and slowly sat down next to him on the chaise, fidgeting with her hair than with her fingers as she tried to find the right place to start. "I… um… gahhh. Chat Noir, I don't know where to start" she said feeling defeated.

"Let start small. Who has made you so upset?"

"Well, that's a no-brainer, Chloe Bourgeois and her best friend Sabrina of course. They always know how to make my life a living hell" Marinette replied, as she started to feel herself bubble with anger, "What's so wrong with her that she takes great pleasure in pushing my buttons and makes me look like a fool in front of…" her voice trailed off.

"In front of who, Marinette?"

"Oh," She said in a soft voice, "Just some guy I really like" realising who she was talking with she quickly started rambling, "Not that you're not a great guy or anything, it's just that he's kind, sweet, generous and clearly out of my league." She sighed, "He doesn't even notice me, so why would 'Mr Perfect' want to have anything to do with a clumsy baker's daughter anyway?"

"Have you ever tried talking to this guy before?"

"Yeah, all the time but for some reason, I can never form sentences or say what I mean to say to him. He makes me go all tongue-tied, my heart starts beating 100 miles an hour and I just lose my cool whenever he is near me" Marinette says dreamily, as she pictures Adrien in her head.

"Wow! If I didn't know you any better, I'd think you were madly in love with this guy. I might even be jealous of this guy for stealing your heart away from me before I even get the chance!" Chat exclaimed, "So, does this Prince Charming of yours have a name or am I going to be left playing the guessing game?"

"Seriously Chat Noir!" as she lightly shoved Chat in the arm before recomposing herself, "You'd probably just think that I'm another one of his fangirls anyway" sounding once again defeated.

"Try me!" Chat replied in a daring tone. "But before you tell me who he is, what do you see in him that make you so different than all of his so-called 'fangirls'?"

"Well, where do I start?" As she stops to process the question, she turns and starts to stare at the posters on her wall, "He's the kind of guy that knows exactly what to say at the right time to make someone feel better about themselves. He's not afraid to lend someone an umbrella on a rainy day because they need it more. He always sees the best in others and never says a bad word about anyone."

Chat is starting to get jealous at this point.

"He is really smart, well educated and is always willing to lend a hand if a classmate is struggling with a particular subject. He's not afraid to ask for help himself when he needs it. He's great with kids, speaks fluent Mandarin, musically talented especially on the piano and is exceptionally good at fencing that he competes in a lot of tournaments."

Chat bolts upright and freezes as Marinette continues.

"He has great big gorgeous green eyes, blonde hair that always seems to glisten in the sunlight and his model good looks are just an added bonus. Now you know why I call him 'Mr Perfect' and why he's out of my league" Marinette pauses then sighs, "His name, is Adrien Agreste".

Chat's jaw drops open in shock. I'm jealous of ME, as my civilian self! Ok, breathe, breathe. Pull yourself together before she notices something's off. "Chat Noir… Are you ok?" Marinette asks a little concerned by his silence. Damn it, too late.

"Um, yeah I'm fine. I was just thinking of ways that I might be able to help you to be more of yourself around him and get his attention" Good recover, Chat thinks to himself, that was close, a little too close.

"What if you start by doing something small and subtle each day that might catch his attention and comment on you, something to start a very small conversation with? This way you will also be able to see if he notices you and exactly how much he does pay attention to you back".

"I don't know?" Marinette curiously replied as she turned back around to face Chat once again, "What kind of subtle things did you have in mind exactly?"

"What about something as simple as leaving your hair out or putting it up differently or add a headband of some description. Wear something different with your clothes like a different coloured shirt or an accessory. They are all small changes but should be noticeable enough to make 'Prince Charming' comment on you."

"Hmmm" Marinette was thinking about what she could do and little things she could make that would catch his eye. "I could do something different with my hair tomorrow and I have some materials that I had picked up from time to time waiting for the right occasion for me to create something new with it" Her face was starting to light up as all these new ideas started to flow through her mind.

"So, now that we have that problem sorted, what are you going to do about Chloe and Sabrina?" Chat asked, feeling a little bit worried that he may have just wrecked the good mood that he had finally got Marinette in.

Shrinking back a little, Marinette took a breath and then relaxed a fraction, "I don't know Chat Noir. How do you stop someone such as Chloe who exploits her dad's weakness, herself being the only family around and uses his public status as a way to get what she wants all the time?"

"Have you ever played fire with fire?" Chat smirked to her with a wink of an eye.

"WHAT?" Marinette jumps up off her chaise completely startled by the suggestion being put to her.

"Ok, so Chloe likes 'ruffling feathers' so to speak" Chat begins with Marinette slowly settling back down on the chaise lounge once more, "Sooo… why not catch 'her' off guard for once. Stand up to her and don't back down. The more you stand up and defend yourself, the more confident you will start to feel and hopefully, she will get sick of embarrassing herself."

"I can see where you're trying to go here Chat Noir, but what if she gets in my face and into my comfort zone? I don't know if I can do it." Marinette starts fidgeting about noticeably uncomfortable by the suggestion and trying to wiggle her way out of having to deal with Chloe completely.

"What would Ladybug do?" Chat intensely watches her movements to gauge what kind of reaction he would get from his comment.

"Excuse me?" A little shocked by Chat's question. 'Where did that come from?' Marinette thought to herself. "Exactly what does Ladybug have to do with you suggesting to me that I stand up to Chloe?" She started to process the words that came out of her mouth, realising that he might just have a point with this after all.

"Well" he started, "What would Ladybug do in this situation if she was you? Is Ladybug the kind of person that would let Chloe walk all over her or the kind of person that will stand up for what she believes is right?"

"There's no way that Ladybug would let the likes of Chloe Bourgeois get the best of her! Even Chloe looks up to and respects Ladybug, which is kind of scary" Marinette exclaimed rather defensively.

"Then why can't you use some of the 'Ladybug superhero magic' help you to be more confident and stand up to Chloe then? Heck, why don't you try and use the same mindset whenever you get the chance to talk to Adrien? Ladybug is a strong, kind, caring and confident woman. The kind of person that all girls want to grow up to be like and the older women wish they could be her!"

"Yeah! You're right Chat Noir!" Marinette said, standing up with new-found confidence striking a superhero stance pose. "I've got nothing to lose and everything to gain!" She moved and smothered Chat with a big hug. Chat jumped then softened as he returned the gesture. "Thanks, Chat Noir, I'm so glad that I have someone like you around in my life"

"Me too Princess, me too"

Beep beep, beep beep.

"I'm sorry Princess, that's my cue to go otherwise you'd see me as my civilian self and I don't think you're quite ready for that" Chat says with his Chat Noir smile and a wink as they hurry apart from their embrace. "I'll come back tomorrow evening and check in on you, ok?"

"Sure thing Chat Noir. Thanks for stopping by and helping me out, I appreciate it" As she helps escort Chat back up out onto the balcony for his departure.

"Anytime Purrrincess, Anytime" as Chat reaches for Marinette's hand, he kisses it before standing up on the railing and jumps into an arch leap then does a barrel roll before vaulting away over the rooftops and into the night.


	3. Chapter 3 - Meltdown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat Noir / Adrien has finally managed to get home so that he can deal with the new information he has just found out his Lady. Unfortunately for Plagg, he is left to try and pick up the pieces but not without having some fun at Adrien's expense along the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had so much fun writing Plagg's lines in this chapter. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it.

###  **Chapter 3 - Meltdown**

For some reason, the journey back to the Agreste Mansion seemed to take longer than usual. It felt as if the world had been put on pause and Chat Noir was doing everything possible to claw himself forward to his destination, one inch at a time. Chat’s heart and mind were both in complete turmoil and confusion, trying to get a grip of the events that had just occurred in front of him. The open window to his bedroom couldn’t come fast enough.

He vaulted through his window just in the nick of time, de-transforming as he landed in front of his foosball table. Adrien bolted to the kitchen and searched high and low for the one thing he was looking for at that moment. He finally found it, grabbed it and raced back to his bedroom before anyone could notice he was even there. It was then that he sat down on his couch and started breathing heavily into the brown paper bag he had found.

“Adrien, where’s my cheese?” Plagg impatiently asked, paying no attention at first to the commotion his master was making. He finally floated over to where his master was sitting, realising that Adrien’s eyes were dilated and he was having a massive anxiety attack. Plagg raced over to Adrien’s dirty wash basket, pulled out a dirty gym sock and flew it back over to Adrien, dangling it right before his eyes.

“Ohh, PLAGG!” a moment later, as the horrible scent of the gym sock finally makes itself know to Adrien’s mind and nose.

“Well it worked didn’t it!” Plagg ducked for cover as the gym sock was ripped from his hands and thrown in his direction.

“That was completely uncalled for and you know it!” he yells as he returns to breathing into the bag.

“Why, just because you can’t handle the truth that your beloved Ladybug just happens to be your princess doesn’t give you the right to take it out on me!” Plagg raises his voice back to compete.

“Are you crazy! No, it can’t be her! Plagg your lying, stop lying to me!” Adrien shouts before once again breathing into the bag, clearly in denial.

“Seriously kid, you really need to calm yourself down.”

“Calm! Calm! I am calm! I am the definition of calm!” as the tension in the air almost gets to boiling point, and the speed in which Adrien is now breathing into his bag is extremely fast.

“Adrien?”

“Why her? Why did it have to be her Plagg?”

“Adrien?”

“How did I not see it before?”

“grrrr!”

“I got JEALOUS of ME because she loves ME!” As Adrien’s rant continues.

“Seriously Adrien, you need to stop right now before Hawkmoth akumatizes you!”

“How could I not see it! I ‘friend-zoned’ her! But I’m not scary, am I? Plagg, don’t answer that! Man, how she drives me crazy! She’s my partner, but she’s my friend. That doesn’t make sense. MUUUM, WHERE ARE YOU WHEN I NEED YOU!!!!”

“ADRIEN” Plagg screams.

Adrien returns to breathing into his bag. “BANG” as the bag gives out “What is wrong with you Plagg!”

“What’s wrong with me! What’s wrong with you, Kid! You’re the one that just blew a massive hole through that brown paper bag you were breathing with because you were freaking out!”

Adrien stopped and looked down to see that Plagg was right. He was holding onto a brown paper bag that was no longer a bag that you could put something into, he had busted it open. “Wh… What happened?” Adrien asked as shock started to settle in.

“You had a massive anxiety attack as soon as you detransformed. Are you ok? You don’t look so good, kid.”

Adrien’s colour had been completely drained from his face, his body was now trembling uncontrollably. His heart was racing so hard and fast that he thought it was about to jump out of his chest and was causing his head to pound. “A… Am I dr… dreaming right n… now Plagg or is th… this really h… happening?”

“Last time I checked it was,” Plagg said as he floated over to Adrien’s arm and gave it a pinch.

“OWWWW! What was that for?”

“Told you, you weren’t dreaming” Plagg sniggered, as he was enjoying the comical side to Adrien’s drama that was unfolding.

Adrien sighed as the events from only moments ago started to come flooding back to him. “Plagg, did you know? Did you know that she was Ladybug?” He asked calmly as he stared at the magazine with Ladybug and Chat Noir on the front cover.

“Us kwami’s are sworn to secrecy. Though Tikki would kill me right now if she knew that you had found out by accident, so either way, I’m dead!”

“Plagg! How long?”

“Ok, Ok! Sheesh! Tikki and I have known since you guys detransformed in the sea container when you were up against Dark Owl. Now, can I have my camembert?”

“Nope, you have some serious explaining to do!”

“Aww, man!” Plagg groaned as his stomach started to rumble. “But I won’t be able to answer your questions on an empty stomach. I’m about to fade away to nothing if I don’t at least get a slice” as he dramatically flopped himself down on top of the magazine that Adrien is staring at, posing with one arm over his forehead, his head slightly tilted to the right with his tongue hanging out faking being dead.

“Fine, but only because you told me how long you’ve known that M’Lady and my Princess just happen to be the same person” As Adrien pulls out a piece of the stinky cheese and throws it to him.

“Ah, Yes. Yum, yum, yum, yum” as Plagg scoffs down the slice.

“Plagg, why am I so confused right now? Shouldn’t I be happy that I finally know who Ladybug is? Why can’t I just accept the fact that they are both one and the same?”

“First things first, how do you feel about Marinette?”

“I don’t know anymore. I always just thought of her as such a good friend.”

“Then can you explain to me why she’s the first person you turn to outside of Nino when you need help?”

“Um, because she is the smartest person I know?”

“Then why do you still have the lucky charm that Marinette made? You have it with you at all times and don’t even get me started on the look you make when you think that no-one is watching when you’re admiring it.”

“What look? I don’t have a look!” Adrien protests.

“Yes you do, you just don’t realise that you doing it.”

“But, she’s just a friend.”

“Denial is the first stage, Kid!”

“WHAT! I’m not in denial!”

“Yes, you are! Have you ever noticed how you’ve started to lose your cool around her and struggle to get sentences out? Sound like anyone else we know?”

“Wait! What? Since when have I been doing that?”

“Hmmm, now let me think back. Oh yeah, it would have been around the time that Jagged Stone was akumatized. Ahhh, it was so funny watching you ask Marinette for her autograph of Jagged’s album because she designed the cover of it!”

“What! Was I really like that back then?”

“Yep, can’t you see it now, kid?”

“No, I don’t want to believe you. It’s not true!” Adrien replies all defensive.

“Are you serious right now!” Plagg says starting to get extremely agitated by how blind and clueless his master is. “Just for a moment, cast aside all your feelings for Ladybug. Even better still, just for now Ladybug doesn’t exist.”

“How can I just forget all my feelings for…”

“JUST DO IT!”

“Ok, ok. Where are you getting at with this?” Adrien asks, both annoyed but curious as to where Plagg is trying to go.

“Just close your eyes and picture Marinette in your mind, then tell me what your heart’s saying about her?”

“And how’s this supposed to help?”

“Just shut your eyes and do it!”

“Fine, I’ll do it.” Adrien swings his legs around to hang over one of the arms of the couch and get himself more comfortable. “Let’s see. She’s smart, kind and generous. Friendly to everyone she meets.”

“Adrien, you're using your head here, not your heart!”

“OK!” Adrien takes a deep breath and goes searching to find what his heart is saying. “She makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I want to spend more time with her, but I’m scared that she doesn’t like me. I want to protect her and I don’t like it when other boys try to make a move on her. She makes me laugh and knows how to make me feel better. I want to be near her and be with her all the time.”

Adrien bolts upright, spins himself back around with his eyes wide open in shock and surprise, “Plagg… I’m in love with Marinette!”

‘Oh No, I think I need more camembert before I have to deal with what’s coming next!’ Plagg thinks to himself “Adrien! I need some more cheese! You’re killing me here!”

Adrien, still in shock, gets up off the couch, hands Plagg what remained of the open camembert wheel. He then starts pacing around his room silently gesturing the different emotional body gestures of ‘how’ and ‘why’ before flopping backwards onto his bed with a massive groan and arms outstretched.

Bringing the palms of his hands to his temples, Adrien groans again before he starts to ramble once more, “Plagg, why is this all messed up? I know I have to fix this but how? I need to tell her I know, but I can’t because that would be breaking her trust even if it was by accident. What if this situation only gets worse? Should I talk to Ladybug about this but not from an identity reveal kinda way? That would be silly wouldn’t it because it would be confessing to her that I have feelings for her without her knowing, but it might be awkward and make things harder for her when she finds out it’s me behind the mask. Either which way, I can only see things ending badly. Argh! I’m doomed, Plagg, doomed!”

“Yeah, you’re doomed! Would you like me to give you the shovel so you can dig your grave?” Plagg calls out laughing in hysterics. “Just kitten!” he says a moment later as he wipes away the tears from laughing so hard.

Adrien just rolled over to face his wall, back towards Plagg as tears start to form in his eyes. ‘Mum, I wish you were here with me right now. You always knew the right words to say to help me solve my problems, so why now when I need you the most, are you nowhere to be found!’ Adrien thinks to himself as the floodgates open.

“Adrien?” as Plagg suddenly realises that his master is silently sobbing on his bed and no longer taking the bait from his remarks and flies onto Adrien’s shoulder. “You know everything going to be ok, right?”

“No, no it’s not” Adrien sobs.

“Adrien, why don’t we just take it one day at a time right now?”

“How? I don’t even know how I’m going to look at her tomorrow now knowing everything that I know” as he tries to compose himself.  
“True but you also just did tell Marinette that you, Chat Noir, would be coming back to visit her tomorrow night, didn’t you? So regardless, you have no choice but to go and speak to her, it’s up to you as to which side of the mask you speak to her in. With the mask, without the mask or both. The choice is yours and yours alone.”

Adrien slowly rolls over and sits up on the edge of the bed, his face blotchy and his eyes red from crying. “Plagg?” He quietly asks, “I have so many questions going on in my head and they’re spinning out of control. I need answers to them all now. I can’t go to school tomorrow like this! I’m going crazy!”

“What if we write your questions down? That way the questions I can answer straight away can be crossed off and the more difficult ones, well, we can work on them together to get the answer.”

“It’s worth a try”. Adrien slowly gets up and makes his way over to his computer and switches it on. He then makes his way to the bathroom to wash his face in hopes that Nathalie doesn’t walk in on him any time soon and notices that he’s been crying. Satisfied that his face looked as close to normal as possible, Adrien returns to the computer, sits down in his chair and logs on.

Adrien immediately opens a new document and saves it as ‘Drama’ in his ‘Homework’ folder. ‘Hopefully, no-one will suspect anything with that title’ Adrien thinks to himself knowing that his father regularly checks his computer to make sure he’s not disgracing the Agreste name online.

In no time at all, Adrien had been able to help clear his mind by putting all his questions onto paper, printed them out, cleared all the computer’s logs to say he’d printed the document, thanks to Max’s computer know-how and was now ready to work through each question one by one.

“Plagg, I’m scared” Adrien sheepishly admits as he looks down at the printed pages in front of him.

“And you wonder why I hate dealing with humans!”

“Plagg!” Adrien turns to give Plagg a dirty look.

“What? They’re too emotional” as Plagg floats up closer to Adrien’s face, “Especially the hormonal ones!” he says sending Adrien a very stern serious glare.

“PLAGG! I’m not that bad! I’d love to see you try and survive spending a day with Chloe, then tell me I’m that bad!”

“I’ll pass on Chloe thank you, she makes my skin crawl! Though I still find you humans overly emotional for my liking.” Plagg replies turning to face away from Adrien folding his arms and gives off a little ‘and that’s that’ nod.

Knock, knock, knock. “Adrien, can I come in?” Gabriel Agreste’s voice drifts through from the other side of Adrien’s bedroom door.

“Ah, yes father, come in” As Adrien hide the bits of paper into his school bag and pulls out his homework for the night to make it look like he has been studying the whole time.

“Adrien, I’m heading out on an important business trip for a few days. Nathalie has prepared your schedule for while I’m gone including a photoshoot after school on Thursday. Do not disappoint me.”

“Yes, father. Can I ask where you are going this time, father?”

“I’m signing a new business deal in China, your photoshoot is part of the contract I’m signing there, so it needs to be perfect. Then I need to do some business in Tibet.”

“Yes father, I will do my best father, thank you father” Adrien replies in a flat monotone voice.

“Good,” Gabriel says, as he turns and makes his exit.

A moment later, Adrien whispers “Plagg, you’re in the clear, you can come out now.”

“Well that will make the next couple of days a little easier on you, you won’t have your father constantly checking in on you.”

“Yeah, it will make sorting things out easier” as Adrien looks up at the time on the clock, 8:23 pm. “Argh! Plagg, I almost forgot about tonight’s patrol I was so distracted!” as Adrien bolts over to his computer and shuts it down.

“Ready Plagg, Claws Out!” Plagg immediately gets sucked into Adrien’s miraculous as it transforms him into the comfortable black leather suit. He quickly opens up his bedroom window then vaults himself out and over to the nearby rooftops dashing to their regular patrol meeting place on top of Notre Dame.


	4. Chapter 4 – Confusion and Interest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat Noir meets up with Ladybug for the evening's Patrol but on her arrival, she sees her partner looking out of sorts. So, Ladybug decides that cheering Chat up and getting him to talk about what's wrong is a higher priority.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay with posting this Chapter. Life kinda got in the way.

###  **Chapter 4 – Confusion and Interest**

As Chat reaches the rooftop of Notre Dame, a wave of relief flows over him. _‘She’s not here yet, phew!’_ he sighs as he sets himself down to take in the sight of the Eiffel Tower fully illuminated and the city street lights below, looking like fairy lights glittering in the night. The glow lulling him into a seductive trans.

“Hey Kitty” Chat bolted upright and his tail straightened by the fright but remained fully focused on the lights. Ladybug realising how much she had startled her partner but she was a little concerned that she was unable to grab his attention.

She crouched down by his side and placed a hand on his shoulder, “I’m so sorry Chat, I didn’t mean to scare you like that!”. She looked at Chat’s face and noticed his blank expression, “Chat, Chat, are you ok?” she was really concerned now and this time was shaking his shoulder hard to get his attention.

“Huh?” as Chat snaps out of his trans, “Oh, hey M’Lady, how long have you been waiting there?”

“Long enough to know that you are most definitely not your normal self tonight, Chaton” Ladybug replies as she sits herself down and gets herself comfortable. “What happened to you today? You seemed perfectly fine when we parted ways earlier after the Akuma fight. Did something happen to you as Chat Noir or in your civilian form?”

Chat paused for a moment trying to take in Ladybug’s words and process her questions, “Ahhhh, yeah, something like that” he replied still mesmerized by the city lights.

“Chat?” Ladybug’s voice was soft and concerned, “What happened? You’re really starting to worry me”

Her voice was soft enough to finally draw his attention away from the lights and he locked eyes with hers. “I… I…” _‘Oh God those eyes, no… focus Chat, focus!’_ “I’ve had something happen to me… Call it an emotional lightbulb moment, if you like. It’s kind of left me all over the place.” As he finally broke his gaze from hers and looked down to where his fidgeting fingers entwined in his lap feeling guilty and ashamed.

Ladybug reached her hand out and placed it on top of Chat’s hands, “It can’t be that earth-shattering enough to knock the puns out of my partner and best friend now, can it?”

Chat didn’t even flinch, nor did he crack a smile. “Yeah, it’s that serious”

Ladybug’s mind starts to go into overdrive, _‘What do I do, what do I do! Oh, I wish you could talk with me right now Tikki! Ok, calm down, just talk to him. Maybe he can give you some information that you can talk with Tikki about later to better help him.’_ “Chat. You know you can trust me with anything right? I know we have an agreement to not allude to our civilian identities but we can still talk in hypotheticals?”

“I know”

Ladybug gives Chat a sideways hug before returning one hand to where his hands are and the other holding him around his back.  
“I feel torn and so confused right now” Chat finally says after a few moments, his voice showing that he is doing his best to hold himself together but the cracks were forming.

“Torn? How?”

“You know how I feel about you, don’t you Bugaboo?”

“Yes, but you know I can’t return your feelings Chat, because there’s someone else I like”

“I know” Chat sounded a little crestfallen, “But just imagine how you would feel if you’d just figured out that you had the same strong feelings for a second person in your life that you weren’t expecting to surface?”

“Oh”

Chat turns his head to look Ladybug in the eyes “I’ve just realised that I’m madly in love with 2 people, M’Lady, and now I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how I should act in my civilian form around her and I’m scared that I might lose her too, like I lost you” as he turned back to his hands, Chat’s words tug strongly at Ladybug’s heartstrings, stirring up a little bit of guilt in her chest.

“That is earth-shattering,” She says softly, but loud enough for Chat to hear. Ladybug starts to try and imagine what it would be like to be torn between two Adrien’s and just realising that you love them both, _‘Ouch, that would be messy! No wonder he’s so out of it. Now if I was Chat Noir, what would I do at this time of night to make myself feel better?’_ “Hey Chat, do you want to do something a little different than Patrol tonight?”

Chat’s head whipped back around to look at her in confusion “Wha… What do you mean?”

“I think a little downtime together is overdue” as Ladybug makes her way back on her feet. She opens her yo-yo to check something on the screen before closing it up again and resetting it back on her hip.

“Isn’t it a little late for that? What are we going to do at this time of night?”

“You’ll just have to wait and see when we get there,” she said, as a smile formed on her face and she held her hand open out in front of Chat’s face, “Shall we?”

Chat hesitated at first “This is out of character, even for you M’Lady?” but the warmth of her smile made him melt on the inside. ‘How can I say no to that now?’ he asked himself as he took Ladybug’s hand.

He stands up next to her then Ladybug grabs Chat around his waist, “Hold on tight!” she says. Chat quickly grabs a hold of her as she throws her yo-yo out towards a nearby building and leaps off Notre Dame’s roof. Chat closed his eyes for a brief moment finding the flying motion very different from his own, like that point when your body revolts when you have swung to high on a swing.

Chat opened his eyes again once he had gained control of his insides only to find that they were just setting down in the middle of a park. They were in an area that was free of foot traffic and the scene before him, took his breath away. Lights gently lit the pathway with perfectly shaped hedges, beautiful green grass and the stars glittering in the black-blue night sky.

“So, what are we doing here?” Chat asks while still awestruck by the scene before him. He seemed a little confused as the scene before them, painted a romantic feel but was pretty sure that it definitely wasn’t Ladybug’s intentions, “Are you taking me on a date, M’Lady?” “No Silly” Ladybug said as Chat inwardly sighed, a little upset that it wasn't a date. Ladybug reached out and grabbed Chat by the wrist, “Chat, it’s this way” as she leads him away to their intended destination.

The pair followed the pathway in silence until they come to an open area with a lake in the middle. Through the middle of the lake was a bridge with a sightseeing area, it was there at the sightseeing area of the bridge where André the Sweethearts Ice Cream man was singing and serving his famous ice cream to his customers from his cart.

“We’re going for ice cream, Bugaboo?” Chat leaned in and gave her his trademark smirk, “André always knows how to pick a good couple when he sees one!”

“Come on Kitty, stop playing around. You know that I have feelings for someone else.”

“I know” if only you knew, Chat thought to himself as he sighed. “But you know my heart still beats for you regardless, Bugaboo.”

Ladybug sighed “I know, but still it doesn’t make it any easier Chat.”

They slowly made their way across the bridge towards André’s cart.

“Ah, Bonjour! Ladybug and Chat Noir! Paris’ most famous superheroes and super ‘lovebirds’. Have you come to enjoy my famous ice cream?” André called to them, extremely excited by their arrival.

“Yes, André, could you please make Chat Noir here one of your special ice creams? He’s feeling really down tonight so I thought by bringing him here, it might help to cheer him up.”

“Ah yes, sure thing Ladybug, come, come, let me make you both something special, on the house!” André exclaimed.

André looks over at Chat to study him before he sets to work creating one of his frozen masterpieces, “Hmmm, now let me see. Ah yes, I have just the right combination for you. Strawberry with black chocolate chips, Blackberry for her hair and Blueberry ice cream just like her sky-blue stare.” André tops the ice cream off with a cherry and a small spoon before handing it over to Chat.

“Merci, André” as Chat receives the ice cream and noticed that it is an identical representation to Ladybug.

“Now remember my boy, for the magic of André’s ice cream to work, and she who is dear to you appear, you must eat it all!” André then turns around to Ladybug, “And as for you my dear Ladybug, Peach pink like his lips and Mint like his eyes, may he appear to you soon before your eyes”

Chat’s jaw drops open at André’s creation for Ladybug, it was him, his civilian self, as an ice cream. He quickly shook his head and recomposed himself before anyone else had noticed his surprised expression.

“Merci, André” Ladybug replied as she received her special ice cream, “Thank you for helping me cheer Chat Noir up.” She grabbed Chat by the arm and turned to start heading to a quiet spot in the park.

“Not a problem, Ladybug, for you two, anything. Come back anytime and may you find who you are looking for soon!” André replied as he waved the duo off before going back to singing his tune.

“So where to now?” Chat asks.

“We could find somewhere to sit and eat away from the public eye if you like?”

“Yeah, sounds good”

“Ok, I think I know just the spot. It’s not far from here and I go there a lot as a civilian when I need some space or time to think.” Ladybug replied, still holding Chat’s arm as she leads the way.

Ladybug lead Chat down a path, then through some bushes that looked to be a little overgrown in a slightly hilly area. They finally come out the other side to another breathtaking view. They found themselves standing on a vaguely mountainous embankment covered in grass, leading to the river’s edge just meters in front of them. The lights from the city reflected off the still river and created a perfect replica of the city, as the river reeds made it easy for the area to be hidden by the naked eye.

“Wow!” He was already thinking of ways to take Marinette out on a picnic date to that spot as Adrien. “I can understand why you come here often” Chat said as he sat himself down on the grass.

“Yeah. You’re the first person I’ve ever brought here. I was hoping to save it for someone else, but that’s never going to happen” Ladybug sighed.

“What do you mean?” Chat asked curiously, knowing all too well that he knew exactly what she meant. “Nothing’s impossible! I mean, I don’t know about you, but if you had told me 12 months ago that I would finally find some kind of freedom to be myself and explore how I truly feel like a person, I would have laughed in your face and told you that you were dreaming. But here I am, feeling free and not caged in, doing things because I want to do them, not because I have to do them.”

“I never really thought about it that way before, Chat” Ladybug replied, trying to eat her ice cream and going all gooey-eyed again just thinking of Adrien Agreste. “I guess, as my civilian self, my life is simple. As for the guy I like, he comes from a different walk of life. I even wonder if he has to schedule in his friends just so he can learn to have a bit of fun!

“More than you realise” Chat muttered to himself quietly.

“Huh, did you say something Chat?”

Chat a little startled that she heard him, quickly tries to find the right words to respond with, “Ah, yeah. I know some people like that and yeah, they have to ‘schedule’ in time to have fun with their friends or spend time with their family because they are so busy.” _'Few, that was too close a call, I hope she buys it',_ Chat thought to himself, panicking.

“Hmmm, you have a good point there, Chat,” Ladybug says, pausing for a moment before she continued. “Though it does make me wonder exactly what walk of life you come from knowing that sort of information.”

“Mmm! This is delicious! No wonder André’s ice creams are famous!” Chat says, changing the subject on purpose.

“Chat?” Ladybug asks in a concerned tone, as she turns her body around to face him.

“Yes, Bugaboo?”

“Are you going to be ok? I mean, what happens if there’s another Akuma victim? Will you be ok to fight or will you be too distracted?”

“Oh, I hadn’t thought about that” as Chat stopped and scratched his head. He then turned so he was now facing her, “What would you suggest I do then, M’Lady?”

“Well for starters, telling the one person who you’re supposed to be partners with wouldn’t go astray! How can we work together if you’re not fully focused on the job at hand! Look at what happened to us when we faced Vanisher, Antibug and Volpina! If we hadn’t have sorted ourselves out in time, Hawkmoth would have well and truly had our Miraculous' by now! How could you have not thought about how this would affect us and affect me!”

Ladybug stopped, shocked at herself for raising her voice at her partner. She then realised what her final words were to him, _‘oh no, what am I doing? What am I saying?’_ As the words ran through her head. “I’m so sorry Chat! I shouldn’t have said that!” she exclaimed in a hurried soft voice.

“No, M’Lady! You shouldn’t be apologising to me” Chat replied quite sternly before looking away from her, “I’m the one that should be apologising to you” he said softly and shyly. Chat refused to make eye contact with Ladybug for a few minutes before he realised what he had missed before.

“M’Lady? Are you feeline ok?” Chat turned back to Ladybug with a look of confusion on his face.

“Me! Y… Yes! Wh... why wouldn’t I be?” _‘Oh no, he heard!’_ Now it was Ladybug’s turn to be caught off guard.

“Did I hear a hint of ‘jealousy’ in your voice?”

“Chat! You’re the one putting our partnership at risk here, not me! So how could me being jealous because you have feelings for someone else be affecting your issues?” Ladybug replied with a very defensive tone.

“See, I just heard it again, Bugaboo!” as Chat leaned into her and wiggling his eyebrows.

“Chat! That’s enough!” Ladybug was now getting angry and embarrassed. “Ok, I admit that I am really concerned about my partner right now and how having an emotional attachment to a civilian could not only affect them by putting their lives in danger, but by how if something happens to them, YOU won’t be able to fulfil YOUR duties as one of Paris’ superheroes.”

“I can promise you right now that you will have nothing to worry about. My feelings for this ‘civilian’ have their own ways of keeping in check during an Akuma fight. It will be just like you and me out there like you say, no strings attached, Chat’s honour!” Chat says holding his left hand in the air and his right hand over his heart while thinking ‘as much as it hurts me, now more than ever.’

“Then prove it, Chat! Show me that I can trust you”

Ladybug and Chat Noir were both so engrossed in their discussion that neither of them had realised how close they had become. Chat finally noticed how close Ladybug’s face was to his and decided to use this to his advantage. He moved one hand gently to cradle the nape of her neck as he quickly leans in and kisses her warm, tender lips as he closes his eyes.

A moment later, they break apart, Chat shocked that she hadn’t shoved him away, she’d kissed him back! The look on her face told him everything. There wasn’t the outrage there should have been if anything she had the same look that she wore when Marinette talked about Adrien Agreste to him a few hours earlier.

“I’m really sorry M’Lady, I shouldn’t have done that” As the kiss sinks in and he stands up to make his exit, “I need to get some more fresh air” as he takes off heading towards the Eiffel Tower.

Ladybug just sits there, stunned. _‘He kissed me! He actually kissed me! This is bad, this is really bad!’_ Her insides were churning with confusion, _‘Why did he do that? Why did I do that? This doesn’t make any sense!’_ “Chat?” As she finally snaps back to reality, only to find that her partner was already on the move. “Chat! Wait!” she hurriedly reaches for her yo-yo and sends it flying out to try and catch up with the runaway Kitty.

Chat hurriedly vaults through the streets of Paris trying to stop the tears that are now starting to form from flowing down his face. He heads for the one place he knows, no one can get to him and see him messed up with his mask on. Little did he know that he was being followed. Ladybug, doing her best to try and keep up, follows Chat Noir all the way to the Eiffel Tower, her thoughts still spinning as she tries to make sense of what occurred a few minutes earlier. She slowly makes her way up to their special lookout place, two-thirds of the way up the metal structure.

Chat lands at their lookout point on the Eiffel Tower and starts pacing back and forth along the external beam, muttering to himself, frustrated and angry at his actions. “Argh! Why did I just do that!” he screams out as he stops at one end of the beam facing the vertical support and crouches down, his arms around his legs and his head between his knees. Chat starts to realise that he was in trouble, he was struggling to breathe, he was hyperventilating and now gasping for air. He went to try and detransform… but something stopped him.

Ladybug had seen just about everything and as soon as she realised that her partner was in trouble, she jumped into action leaving all her thoughts and feelings aside, _‘I’ll just have to chat to Tikki about it later, but right now Chat needs my help.’_ She walked up and crouched down behind him, gently put her arms around his body, whispering into his ear “You’re ok Chat, you’re ok. I’ve got you now. It’s ok.”

The pair stayed that way for about 10 minutes, Ladybug constantly reassuring Chat that everything was going to be ok when he finally relaxed from his cramped position and his breathing was back to normal once again. They both sat down, legs hanging over the edge of the beam they were perched on, looking out into the night in an awkward silence, neither one knowing what to say or do next.

Chat broke the awkward silence after 5 minutes, “Thank you, M’Lady.” He said, sounding genuinely grateful for her presence, “You didn’t have to, but I’m sure glad you did.”

“You would have done the same for me, Kitty, if the roles were in reverse”

“Yeah. A thousand times over”

There was another awkward silence before Ladybug proceeded, “Do you feel any better now, Chat? You really scared me!”

“I’m sorry M’Lady, I didn’t mean to scare you. To be totally honest, I think I really scared myself there too.” Chat sighed before continuing, “Thank you for tonight. I mean, I know things got a little crazy, but I was able to gain some clarity amongst all the chaos and you’re right, I should be honest with you, you are my partner after all. We wouldn’t have been able to function properly if I hadn’t had talked to you, we’re here for each other through thick and thin, right?”

“Yeah, it did get crazy, I must admit” as her mind wandered back to the kiss again, “once a team, always a team!”

“Yeah” Chat turn his head to now facing her, raised his right hand up to her ready for their trademark fist bump, “Pound it?”  
Ladybug turns to Chat with a smile on her face, “Pound It” as she raises her right hand to fist bump him back.


	5. Chapter 5 – Newfound Confidence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette wakes up to a brand new day and decides to take in Chat's advice by changing up her appearance for school, finds herself being the target of Chloe's attack, also freaking out and being madly clumsy as Marinette does best.

###  **Chapter 5 – Newfound Confidence**

Buzzzzzz… Buzzzzzz… Buzzzzzz… Buzzzzzz… Marinette’s phone alarm was going off for the fifth time that morning.

“Wake up Marinette! You’re going to be late for school!”

Marinette groaned before sleepily responding, “Just a little longer, Tikki” as she rolled over and pulled her covers over her head.

“MARINETTE! School starts in 10 minutes!”

Marinette bolts up out of bed, “Tikki, why didn’t you say that in the first place?”

“Oh, Marinette!” Tikki says while she floats in mid-air shaking her head.

Marinette raced down her stairs to her wardrobe and started pulling out her usual outfit and was halfway through putting her white cherry blossom shirt on when she stopped. Chat Noir’s words started playing back through her mind from the night before.

_ ‘What if you start out by doing something small and subtle each day that might catch his attention and comment on you, something to start a very small conversation with? This way you will also be able to see if he notices you and exactly how much he does pay attention to you back.’ _

“Chat’s right! Let’s try something different.” Marinette quickly scanned through her outfits until she came to one that she had made but hadn’t worn out in public before. “Maybe you will give me some extra confidence today!”

Marinette slipped off the white shirt and slipped on a black shirt with a green cat paw print on the front and two small paw prints on each sleeve. She then slipped on a green ¾ length sleeve jacket with a large black cat paw print on the back to complement the shirt.

“WOW, Marinette! You’re sporting a very Chat Noir style today” Tikki giggled.

“Thanks, Tikki. Hopefully, it helps to give me the confidence I need to talk with Adrien today.”

“You’ll be fine Marinette. Stop worrying.” As Tikki flew into the purse and Marinette grabbed her school bag as she raced down the trap door, kissed her mum goodbye in the kitchen and ran down the stairs, out the door to school.

Marinette made it into her classroom, just as the bell rang. Marinette was too busy rushing to her seat to notice Adrien’s jaw drop as she passed by his desk.

“Dude, stop gawking! Since when did you start taking an interest in Marinette anyway? I thought you loved Ladybug!” Nino said to Adrien, making sure he was loud enough for Alya to hear it.

Adrien quickly shut his mouth and pretended to do some work, sheepishly replying “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Nino.”

“Sure, you do, it’s written all over you right now!” Nino said mockingly.

Adrien remained focused on the page before him as his inside started to swell once again with emotion while Nino turned around to Alya, gave her a wink before returning to the front of the classroom.

“Hey Gurl, you’re cutting it a bit fine today, aren’t ya?” Alya whispered as Marinette slid into the seat next to her. “Love the outfit, by the way!”

“Thanks, I made it myself” Marinette whispers back, with a large grin now on her face, as Ms Bustier starts going through the roll call.

During roll call, as Marinette’s name is called out, Adrien tries to sneak a glance back at Marinette only to be caught out by Alya giving him a ‘gotcha’ look.

Alya leans over to Marinette “Someone’s managed to get ‘ _ lover boy’s’ _ attention today” she whispers in a teasing tone.

Marinette turns a light shade of red, “Alya!” she shushed her friend back “You’re not helping me right now!”. ‘ _ Huh, so Chat was right, interesting…’ _

“Marinette?” Ms Bustier called out, trying to ask Marinette a question.

“Oh… Sorry Ms Bustier, yes?” Marinette was now frazzled.

“Marinette, I was asking you a question about last night’s homework. What Shakespeare play did you choose?” she asked again, now tapping her pen on the clipboard in front of her.

“Oh… I, um… I choose, Romeo and Juliet”

“Ah, my favourite. The romance and them serenading at the start gets me every time.” Ms Bustier gives off a look as she remembers the balcony scene and hugs her clipboard briefly before snapping back to reality. “So, I’m going to get you all to pair up together and you’ll be working on one of the plays that will be listed on the board. You have a week to research your play of choice, submit a report about it and find a scene or part of a scene that you can rein act out in front of the class. So, pair up, choose your play, let me know who’s in your pair and get to work.”

“Adrikins! You're working with me now aren’t you!” Chloe jumps out of her desk to try to convince Adrien that she is his partner for this assignment.

“Sorry Chloe, but I was going to work with Marinette on this one” as Adrien turns to face Marinette, who is starting to change a shade of pink, “If that’s ok with you?”

“Sh… Sure. I can do that.”

Chloe growls, “Fine, you’ll pay for that Maribrat,” as she returns to her seat next to Sabrina.

“Want to switch seats then?” Alya asks Adrien getting up from her seat

“Sure, thanks Alya.”

Alya leans into Marinette “Good luck gurl! You’ve got this!” she whispered.

“So what play did you want to research? I like your idea of Romeo and Juliet. That and Hamlet are my two favourites.” As Adrien slips into the seat Alya just vacated from.

“Y… Yeah, sure, we can do that” Marinette squeaked, ‘ _ calm down Marinette, he’s just another boy, deep breaths, deep breaths’. _ She looked back over to Adrien who was now informing Ms Bustier of their decision.

“Thank you, Adrien, I’ll be looking forward to seeing what you two will produce”

Marinette’s jaw drops open. ‘ _ What did I just get myself into!’ _ She quickly shuts her mouth as she sees Adrien turn back around to her.

As Adrien turns back around, he takes a better look at the new shirt she is wearing and his insides start to flutter. “Wow, Marinette! I didn’t know you were a Chat Noir fan.” ‘ _ Keep it together, I know you're excited but remember she doesn’t have a clue!’ _ Adrien tries to keep himself calm in front of her.

“Th… Thanks, Adrien. I made it myself and the matching jacket to go with it” As Marinette turned around in her seat to show him the paw print design on the back of her jacket.

Adrien’s eyes widened and glistened like he was on the verge of crying “That is so totally pawsome! I wish I could have something like it!” ‘ _ OOPS! PLEASE DON’T NOTICE! Stay calm, don’t react or she will get suspicious’. _

Marinette whipped back around with a look of confusion on her face, “Did you just… Did you just make a cat pun?”

“Me? No. Why would I do that?” Adrien replied, trying to keep cool even though he was panicking badly on the inside.

“Huh. No reason”

“Ok…” Adrien, still sweating, but playing it cautiously asks “So… Um… Did you want to catch up after school in the library to work on our research component today? My Father hasn’t got anything scheduled for me to do, so I’m free and wouldn’t mind getting a good start on it now.”

“Um… Sure, we could do that,” Marinette replies nervously.

“That way it can also give us time to go through the play’s script and look for a part that we could act out.”

“Yeah,” Marinette starts daydreaming about doing a Romeo and Juliet kissing scene as their scene to act out.

“Um, Marinette? Are you ok?” Adrien says trying to regain Marinette’s attention

“Huh,” Marinette snaps back to reality, “Ah, what did I miss?”

“Oh, hey there, I thought I’d lost you for a moment. The bell’s gone and class is over. We need to hurry and get to Ms Mendeleiev’s class or we’ll both be given detention,” Adrien said in an urgent tone.

“Argh!” as Marinette jumps out her seat, smacking Adrien in the forehead and accidentally kicked over her bag so hard that the contents spilled out all over the floor.

“Ouch!” Adrien rubbed his head.

“Oh my gosh Adrien, I’m so, so, so sorry!” Marinette exclaimed.

“It’s okay Marinette, I know that it was an accident. Here, let me help you with that.”

“It’s okay, I can handle it!” Marinette squeaked.

They both simultaneously went to pick up Marinette’s things only to bump into each other once again. Now, they were both rubbing their heads. After some blushing and a few glances, they took turns to bob down and together they started picking up the items and putting them back into Marinette’s bag. Somehow, they both turned back to the bag and found their hands, one on top of the other partially entwined, neither one of them willing to take their hand away just yet from the other.

Adrien took a glance up at Marinette, whose face had started turning a shade of pink again and felt his body just melt. ‘ _ No Adrien, it’s too soon for that’.  _ As they picked up the last of the books and put them away in Marinette’s bag, Adrien quickly stood up and offered Marinette his hand to help her up. She reached out and took it as she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.

“Th… Thanks, Adrien, you didn’t have to” she said in a soft voice, then Marinette started to freak out, “I mean, I’m such a klutz, this happens all the time. Ugh! Why am I so lame!”

Adrien giggles “It’s ok Marinette, it’s what makes you unique” as he gives her a big smile. ‘ _ And that’s just one of the things I love about you’ _ he thinks to himself.

“Now we’re both going to be in trouble with Ms Mendeleiev” Marinette sighed, “how are we going to talk our way out of this one.”

“Just leave the talking to me” as he hands over Marinette’s bag and the two of them walk to the next class.

Ms Mendeleiev was indeed not impressed by both Adrien and Marinette’s tardiness to class, but after Adrien telling her that he had accidentally bumped into Marinette sending her things flying down the stairwell and thought that he’d better help pick it all up since it was his fault in the first place, she just hurried them to their seats, without detention.

The rest of the morning seemed to go by without a hitch until lunchtime came around. Nino and Adrien had already headed out of the class by the time Marinette had collected her things and made her exit with Alya. The boys were halfway down the stairwell when Alya leaned over the balcony to call out to them.

“Hey Nino, Adrien! Wait up!” as she grabbed Marinette by the wrist and started to head towards the stairs.

Chloe who was walking down about 6 steps behind Adrien saw this as her chance to get back at Marinette and embarrass her in front of everyone. The smirk on her face grew wider the closer Marinette got to her, behind Alya. Just when Alya flew past, Chloe turned around, lifted one leg off the ground and pretended that she had been pushed past almost sending her over the edge of the stairwell wall. Marinette caught her legs on Chloe’s leg and went flying, straight into Adrien’s chest and sending him too flying backwards into the ground.

“Argh!” Marinette exclaimed while in mid-air.

“Oof” as the wind was knocked out of Adrien.

It took Marinette a minute to realise exactly where she had landed. ‘ _ That smell… mmm… and those stripes. Oh no! THOSE STRIPES!!!’  _ “Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry Adrien!” she said panicking as she picked herself up off him. “I’m so sorry, I have to go!” and started to bolt off to the locker room.

“Marinette! Wait!” as Adrien got up off the floor, picked up her bag and followed her to the locker room.

“WHAT! He’s supposed to hate her, not run after her! This is ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!” Chloe storms off angry as her plan backfired.

“Chloe! Wait!” Sabrina yells running after Chloe.

“Um, are we missing something here?” Alya turned to Nino and asked.

“Yeah, my boy’s been acting strange all morning.”

“What should we do about it? Do you want me to talk to Adrien or do you want to talk to him? Either way, we need to figure this thing out fast,”

“Yeah. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say my bro has just worked out that he actually has feelings for Marinette, but that couldn’t be right, couldn’t it? Now I’m confused,” Nino replied, scratching his head with a look of confusion on his face.

“Really! That’s great!” Alya jumped with excitement.

“How so?”

“Remember, Marinette’s been crushing on him for ages”

“Oh yeah, right. I forgot about that, my bad.”

“Come on, let’s go look for them,” Alya says rolling her eyes and lightly punches Nino in the shoulder as they walked towards the locker room, “I can’t believe you forgot how obvious her crush is on Adrien!”

Nino started rubbing at his now hurt shoulder, “Owww! Gees, thanks for rubbing it in.”

“Your welcome.”

Marinette ran and locked herself into the end cubical in the girl’s bathroom, tears now rolling down her face. “Oh Tikki, what have I done!” She cries between sobs, “He’s going to hate me now for sure!”

“Then why was he running after you for?” Tikki replied.

“Wait… What?” Marinette went numb at Tikki’s comment.

“Can’t you hear him? He’s out there looking for you?”

Marinette wiped the tears from her face and listened carefully.

“Please Marinette, can you come out. I just want to make sure that you’re ok!” Adrien’s faint pleading voice drifts through the closed main bathroom doors.

“See, he’s really worried about you Marinette!”

“I can’t go out there now looking like this!” Marinette squeaked.

“Oh, Marinette! You need to trust in yourself more.” Tikki replied before dashing back into Marinette’s purse, spooked by the commotion that was now occurring outside the main bathroom door. She opened the toilet cubicle door and crept up to the main bathroom doors staying low so she could hear the conversation that was now taking place on the other side.

...

Outside the girl’s bathroom, Adrien was sitting on the ground, back leaning up against the unhinged door, calling out to Marinette to try and convince her that everything was ok and that it was safe for her to come out, with little luck.

Nino and Alya enter into the locker room and swoop in on Adrien like a flock of birds circling their prey.

“Dude, what’s up with you today!”

“Come on Adrien, spill the beans!”

“Yeah, this is so unlike you.”

“I don’t know what you guys are talking about?”

“Seriously dude! We’re not blind! You’ve finally figured it out, haven’t you?”

“Huh? Figured what out, guys? you’ve lost me.”

“Come on, Dude. People just don’t go from being oblivious of a person one day to gawking at them the next without some kind of revelation?”

“Wait… What? Nino, you didn’t tell me that!” Alya squeaked.

“Tell you what?” Nino was confused.

“Exactly when did you catch Adrien gawking at Marinette?”

“This morning… When she came in late for school… Why? How is that even relevant?”

“WHAT! ARE YOU CRAZY! HOW IT THAT NOT RELEVANT!” Alya screamed back at two now very nervous boys.

“I’m not sure I’m following guys?” Adrien questions nervously.

“EXACTLY HOW DENSE ARE YOU, ADRIEN? SHE’S HAD A CRUSH ON YOU SINCE THE DAY YOU GOT HERE AND YOU ONLY BRUSH HER ASIDE LIKE A FRIEND. NOW YOU START TAKING AN OBVIOUS INTEREST IN HER AND YOU’RE DENYING IT TO OUR FACE!” Alya stops and realises that she went too far but didn't regret what she has said. Adrien obviously needed it to be spelt out to him and now the cat was out of the bag.

“Oh… Have I really been that bad?” Adrien says gently, still in shock from the blasting he has just received from Alya.

“Sorry Bro, but Alya’s right. You’d be a fool to deny it now,” Nino chimed in.

Adrien hung his head in shame, the jig was up. He spoke in a melancholy voice, “You’re right… I’m sorry... I’ve been fighting this feeling for quite a while now, torn between both her and Ladybug. I’ve been denying myself to have feelings other than that of a friend because I felt I loved Ladybug more, but now I think that that’s not the case and I don’t know what to do?”

“Whoa, that’s deep man. I seriously wasn’t expecting you to actually fess up like you just did.”

“Marinette can’t know just yet guys. I need to be certain that my feelings for her are genuine before I tell her. I don’t want to hurt her. She means too much to me to risk losing her altogether.” Adrien said with an urgent tone to his voice before quieting off towards the end.

“It’s ok Adrien, your secret’s safe with us until you’re ready to tell her yourself, of course,” Alya replied, in her normally calm voice.

“That sounded pretty genuine to me!” Nino said under his breath. Alya turned and swatted him and gave him a look that said ‘Just don’t even go there’.

“Ok, now that we’ve got that out of the way, I better go check on how my gurl is doing. I’ll meet you guys at the usual place for lunch then?” Alya asked.

“Sure, we’ll see you dudettes there,” Nino replied.

Alya picked up Marinette’s school bag, then headed for the girl’s bathroom to go check on her while Nino helped Adrien up off the floor and the boys started heading towards their lunch break destination.

“Dude, why can’t you just tell her? If you don’t make a move soon, someone else may just come through and sweep her off her feet.” Nino questioned, “You know, I’ve noticed Luka taking quite a bit of an interest in Marinette lately.”

“Nino!” Adrien sighed, “It’s just a little more complicated than that. Sorry, it’s really hard to explain”

“Man, it sounds to me like you’re wussing out big time.”

“Am not!” Adrien replied, a little too fast in protest to not sound guilty.

“And I think that you’re protesting too much!”

“So, what Shakespeare play are you and Alya doing for your research project?”

“You didn’t just change subjects on me now, did you! You’re digging yourself a bigger grave!” Nino snorts before being serious again, “You know, you’re going to have to face her and deal with all your built-up emotions sooner or later. We’re just trying to give you the  _ friendly _ push to do it sooner that’s all.”

“Yeah, I know, but I think I just need a little more time to work things out for myself. Up until a couple of minutes ago, I honestly thought that Marinette hated me because of how she acted around me, not that she has a crush on me!”

“Ah yes, love is blind sometimes,” Nino says as he throws himself over Adrien and ruffles his hair before the pair gets themselves comfy sitting at the bench, waiting for the girls to join them.

...

Marinette had heard Adrien’s confession to Alya and Nino and froze at his words, he liked her, Adrien Agreste actually liked her as more than just a friend. She panicked after hearing everything that was said and began backing herself away from the bathroom doors so fast so she wouldn’t be seen, not paying any attention to where she was heading, only to smack her head so hard on the bottom of one of the basins that she knocked herself out.

Alya walked into the girl’s bathroom to find an unconscious Marinette, laying on the floor.

“Marinette! Marinette! Wake up! Come on gurl, stop scaring me!” Alya called out to her as she rushed to Marinette’s side. Alya quickly jumped up to the basin, turned the tap on, cupped her hands under the running water then ran back to Marinette, splashing the water all over her face.

Marinette bolted upright in surprise, “Where am I? What happened? Why am I wet? Why does my head hurt?” she asks Alya, very confused and rubbing her head from the impact with the basin.

“Whoa, there gurl!” Alya cried out, “You’re at school in the girl’s bathroom, Chloe pulled one of her stunts on you which resulted in you face planting into Adrien’s chest, you’re wet because I had to splash you with water to wake you up and I don’t know why you’re head hurts. Now can I ask you a question?”

“Umm, Ok… Wait, what? Adrien’s chest?? Ow, my head hurts!”

“Calm down, Mari! What happened to you?” Alya said, now really concerned.

“Um, I remember running into a stall but then I came out and I must have slipped up and knocked myself out,” Marinette replied, still rubbing her head and not letting on about the conversation that she had just overheard.

“Come on, let’s go get you checked out by the school nurse then,” as Alya helped Marinette to her feet and started to lead her unstable friend to the school nurse’s office.

“Thanks, Alya.”

“What for? I’m just doing what any BFF would do!”


	6. Chapter 6 – The Confrontation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien is really worried about Marinette after finding out that she has a mild concussion while Marinette stands up to Chloe after making some horrible comments to Nathaniel and Juleka about their comic they were showing to their friends in the school's library. 
> 
> Things start out being a little awkward between Adrien and Marinette while at the library until some friendly advice helps them to be themselves and focus on their assignment at hand.

###  **Chapter 6 – The Confrontation**

Marinette spent the rest of the school day in the nurse’s office been monitored for her concussion and as she was showing signs of short-term memory loss. Alya, Nino and Adrien had all come by between classes to check in on her to make sure she was ok and now that the final bell had rung for the day, the trio were now coming back to collect her.

“Are you really sure you’re still up for working on our research project?” Adrien asked, still concerned that she was still a little spaced out.

“If I don’t get up and do something soon, I swear I’m going to go crazy! I wasn’t allowed to do anything except lay here and twiddle my thumbs all afternoon!” Marinette replied, a little on the twitchy side.

“Ok, ok, I just thought I’d double-check.” Adrien then turns to Alya and Nino, “So, do you two want to come along with us?” then leans into them and whispers while Marinette is receiving final instructions from the nurse, “and help me keep an eye on Marinette, please?”

“You owe us big time for this, bro!” Nino whispers back while Alya gives a nod in agreeance.

Adrien signals a ‘Thank You’ before returning his attention back to Marinette. “Is there anything I could help you with as we head for the library? Could I maybe carry your bag for you? Do you need a hand to walk?”

“Nuh, I’ll be fine” Marinette replies as she puts her backpack on her back before she slowly makes her way off the nurse’s bed only for her legs to give out on her and she starts to collapse to the floor. Luckily Adrien’s cat-like reflexes were fast enough to catch her before she hit the ground. “On second thought, maybe I could do with the extra hand.”

She takes a glance up at Adrien and is immediately staring into his beautiful green eyes and melted on the inside, “Thanks, Adrien” as she went all giddy.

Adrien’s eyes locked on to hers as he slowly helps her to stand, neither one about to take their eyes off the other, “You’re welcome, Marinette” he replied softly, using every ounce of strength not to kiss her at that moment.

“Sorry to break the moment, but the nurse is pushing us out the door now!” Alya said, breaking the duo’s gaze at each other, as Alya raced to Marinette’s side, “Put your arms around our shoulders and we’ll help you walk to the library.”

The group of friends slowly made their way out of the nurse office and back towards the school library, "Thanks guys, I don't know what I would do without you all helping me out like this” Marinette says breaking the silence as she starts to feel the strength returning to her legs and she no longer needed to concentrate as hard to walk.

“So, did you end up figuring out how you ended up on the floor unconscious yet?” Alya asked Marinette, still curious at how she could have got there in the first place.

“Unconscious!!! Alya, Marinette, why didn’t you say something about that earlier?” Adrien sounding a little more concerned than before.

“Oh, didn’t I? Oops! Must have slipped my mind!” Alya replied sounding not sorry about leaving out the minor detail to Adrien.

“No Alya, and besides, it’s nothing major, I swear!” Marinette tries to brush it off like it never happened.

“Either way, Marinette, you had us all really worried about you!” Adrien replies as Nino holds open the Library door so that the others can enter.

As they enter, they noticed a large number of students gathered around one of the tables. All they could hear coming from that direction were comments like “WOW, that looks great”, “You two should look at getting it published”, “Yeah!, You two should absolutely look at getting it published”, “The line work is just so beautiful”, “I'm loving the story keep it up”, “It's so lifelike I love it”.

They slowly made their way over to where all the commotion was.

“What’s all the fuss about?” Alya asked the group.

“Hey guys, Nathaniel and Juleka were just giving us a bit of a look at a side project that they’re working on right now. You guys should check it out!” Kim replied, gesturing towards the bits of paper spread out all over the table they were at.

“Wow Nathaniel, your drawings really good!” Marinette exclaimed as she flipped through the pages of comic drawings that he had done.

A slightly red hue rushed across Nathaniel’s face before he replied, “Thank you Marinette, you’re too kind. I just did the drawing, it was Jukela’s idea for the storyline.”

“Wow, that’s great Juleka! So, any chance that you can tell us what’s going to happen next?” Marinette asked, quite intrigued by the comic.

“No chance! You’ll just have to wait like everyone else!” Juleka replied feeling quite proud of herself.

“Not even a tiny little hint?” Adrien pleaded.

“Nope, not happening” both Nathaniel and Juleka replied.

A large sigh of “Ohhhhh” came from the now large group of gathered students.

“Well I think your story is lame and those pictures, pff, I bet a pre-schooler could draw better than that! The only thing that it’s good for is to been thrown out with the trash!” Chloe mocked them and cackled at her words.

“Good one, Chloe” Sabrina joined in, “I thought I’d smelt something off around here!” as the pair now cackled together.

Marinette slammed her hands down hard on the table in front of her “That’s quite enough from you Chloe! Nobody asked for your opinion here and on that note, only Sabrina and yourself seem to care about your rude remarks.”

“Look who’s talking now, Sabrina! Like I care about some nobody’s work when Daddy can fly me to a meet and greet with whoever I want when I want it! Bet your parents can’t do that for you. You’re just some poor baker’s daughter. I could have Daddy sell your bakery from right underneath your parents if I wanted too, so if I was you, I’d quit now while you still have the chance!” Chloe replied as she crossed her arms and making sure that she had verbally placed herself on a pedestal.

Adrien went to step in but Marinette cut him off before he got the chance.

“I’m so glad you’ve got your priorities right, Chloe.” Marinette said calmly, trying to not let her anger and frustration get the better of her and let Chloe win, “For a moment there, it sounded like you were taking more of an interest in what others do than yourself for a change, but that wouldn’t be right now, Chloe?”

A look of horror swept across Chloe’s face, “Excuse me, Marinette Dupain-Cheng! Are you questioning my authority around here?”

“What authority, Chloe? Last time I checked, I thought I was voted as our class representative, not you. Now, as your class representative, I’m asking you to please kindly remove yourself before you dig yourself a bigger hole.” Marinette replied quite sternly.

“WHAT! How dare you speak to me like that! Just you wait until my Daddy hears about it!” Chloe replies quite angrily, “This is ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous!” she says as she storms out the library doors with Sabrina chasing right behind her.

“Thanks, Marinette, you were amazing! I’ve never seen anyone stand up to Chloe like you just did! Aren’t you scared about the possibility that she could close down your parent’s bakery on you just for standing up to her?” Nathaniel said as he started shaking Marinette’s hand in thanks.

Marinette thought for a moment before giving Nathaniel her answer, “Umm, maybe a little, but I know that my parents have copies of all documents submitted into the Mayor’s office, so if Chloe does try one of her tricks, I’m sure they’ll be able to resolve it at the Mayor’s expense and I don’t think he’ll want to part with that kind of money.”

There was a sound of laughter from the group at Marinette’s comments. Marinette had joined in and was now laughing so much that she had let go of the table that was supporting her, lost her balance and once again started heading towards the floor.

Adrien just happened to be looking over and admiring Marinette at that moment when he saw her collapse. He threw himself at Marinette to try and catch her but unfortunately, Adrien was too off-balance to keep her upright but managed to roll them enough for Marinette to land on top of him and cushion her fall.

“Oof!” Adrien cried as they hit the ground and had the wind knocked out of him once again. “Are you ok, Marinette?”

Adrien’s arms were tightly wrapped around Marinette’s upper body before he slowly started to loosen them to allow her to move. Marinette laid there a moment longer before she took a deep breath and looked up at him. “Y… Yes, I think so?” as a pink hue swept across her cheeks.

“That’s good. You know, we probably should stop bumping into each other like this, right?” Adrien said as a slight blush makes his way across his face as well as the tips of his ears.

“Um, yeah, probably,” Marinette says while tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.

“You know, I would offer to help you up, but I currently have you on top of me, so I’m finding it a little bit difficult.”

Marinette quickly sat upright and moved to his side, realising the awkwardness of the situation, “Oh, I’m so sorry, Adrien!” she replied, now extremely flustered.

Adrien let out a little chuckle, “It’s perfectly fine Marinette, I’m just glad that you’re not hurt” as he sat up next to Marinette and rolled to his side to face her.  _ I’d do anything to protect you and keep you safe! _ he thinks to himself as he gets distracted by her bluebell eyes.

Marinette looks over at Adrien and is instantly melting away on the inside from the smile on his face. Then Marinette notices him moving a hand closer to her face and her eyes widen in surprise.  _ OH MY GOSH! IS HE ABOUT TO KISS ME! _ As her mind starts to run wild.

Adrien’s hand slowly and gently brushes her cheek as he tucks a loose bit of hair behind her ear, then pauses there for a moment.

“Hey you guys, I didn’t realise that there was a party happening on the floor! Where was my invitation?” Nino asked with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

Adrien quickly pulled his hand back, picked himself up off the ground, then offered his hand to help Marinette off the floor. “I’m not sure what you mean, Nino” knowing all too well what his best mate was referring to.

“Seriously! You guys need to go over to the ‘make-out’ corner and just kiss each other and get it out of your systems! You’re so freaking obvious!” Nino remarked before heading towards a vacant table with Alya, leaving both Adrien and Marinette with their jaws open in shock.

“Come on you two, before you get thrown out of here for playing statues!” Alya said with a smirk on her face, while Adrien and Marinette snap back to reality and make their way to the table where Nino and Alya were seated.

Adrien dropped his bag down next to the chair he was going to sit at, then pulled out the chair on the corner next to him and helped Marinette into the seat. “Here, just sit down and relax for a moment while I head over to the shelf and get the books we need” as he gently pushed her seat in slightly.

Adrien made his way over to the literature section of the school library and while browsing for the right section, Plagg popped out of Adrien’s shirt. “Someone’s finding it hard to keep their emotions in check today!” He teased.

“Shh, Plagg! What if someone sees you!” Adrien quietly hissed back.

“Don’t you go trying to change the subject on me kid! I saw how you’ve looked at her the last two times she’s fallen. You need to get a grip on yourself, if your best buds figured you out like that, I’m sure that went she fully processes the situation, it going to get messy.”

“Ok. So, I need to tone it down a little. I get it.”

“You need to tone it down by a lot. I just watched you try and pull a move on her as if she was officially dating you. You better hope Alya didn’t take a picture of you two looking like that.”

Adrien froze, gulp.  _ What if Alya did take a picture of us this time? I need to find out fast. _ He finally found 2 copies of Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and grabbed them off the shelf, “Come on Plagg, we’ll figure this out after I’ve taken Marinette home.”

“Which time?” Plagg asked sarcastically

“Ha Ha, very funny. Now can you please hide”

“Yeah, yeah, your funeral kid,” Plagg replied as he flew back into Adrien’s shirt as he made his way back to the table only to find Alya showing Marinette something on her phone.  _ Oh no, she did, didn’t she? _

“Alya” Marinette squealed, “Where did you get that? When did you get that?” her mind now going completely out of control as she looks down at the photo Alya held before her on her phone. It was her, with Adrien, on the floor in the library with their eyes locked onto each other’s and Adrien’s hand by her cheek. That very pose that you read about in romance novels where the characters suddenly lean in to kiss.

“Hey you two, what’s so interesting on your phone Alya?” Adrien asks as he sends both the girls jumping out of their skins in fright. “Do you mind if I have a look?”

Alya, not sure what to do at that moment, looks at Marinette to see that she is completely losing it so badly on the inside that’s the cracks are now showing, then returns her attention back to Adrien, “I was just showing her something that I thought she might be interested in, you know, private gurl stuff and all” she replied, hands on her hips, phone in one hand and giving Adrien the  _ ‘wouldn’t you like to know’ _ expression on her face.

Alya quickly turns her attention back to Marinette, “Hey gurl, I was just going to go get a drink, do you want to come too and get some fresh air for a minute? You look like you could do with it.”

Marinette silently nods and Alya starts to help her up off the chair.

Adrien places the books down on the table next to them, “Here, let me give you a hand then.”

“Thanks, but no thanks, Adrien, not this time” Alya butts in as the girls start heading out the library doors.

“Oh” Adrien sighed as he watched the girls exit before sliding into his seat and opening up one of the books to start looking through at points to discuss when Marinette returned.

“My man, you know that confirmation you were talking about earlier?” as Nino places a hand on Adrien’s shoulder, making him bolt upright.

“Yeah?” Adrien replied, a bit nervous as to where Nino was about to go with this conversation.

“Well, here’s your proof, bro, clear as daylight” as Nino shows Adrien the picture of Marinette and himself on the library floor, moments before Nino interrupted them.

Adrien’s eyes widened and jaw dropped at the sight of the photo.

“So, exactly how hard did you have to restrain yourself from making the next move?” Nino teased.

“You have no idea!” then Adrien realises what he just said was out loud and slaps his hand over his mouth, as the sound of Nino’s laugh rings through his ears.

...

Meanwhile, Alya and Marinette are outside at the water fountain.

“Really Marinette, how are you holding up?” Alya turned to ask Marinette in her super-serious voice that she only uses when something is really not right, “I’m happy to take you home now if you need?”

Marinette took a deep breath, and let it all out, “Thanks Alya, but I think I’m going to be fine. Yes, the events of the day are starting to get to me, but I think you were right, I just needed to stop for a moment, have a drink and get some fresh air. Besides, it’s actually a nice day outside.”

Alya jumps with joy then grabs Marinette by the shoulders, “Hey, just a suggestion, why don’t you ask Adrien if he would like to study in the park outside your house instead?”

“WHAT! I can’t say that! I wouldn’t even know how to ask him that!”

Alya shakes her head, “Marinette, just tell him that after been cooped up inside all day in the nurse’s office, that you could really use the fresh air right now and think that it would help you to study better. I’m sure he will totally understand where you’re coming from and take you up on your offer.”

“Ok, let me just finish my juice and we’ll head back in and go from there” Marinette sighs, knowing that Alya is right.  _ Maybe the fresh air is all that I need. _

A few minutes later Marinette and Alya make their way back into the library. With the fresh air and the juice now in her system, Marinette is feeling heaps more stable on her feet and now feels more confident to talk to Adrien again.

After being humiliated by Nino, Adrien tried to concentrate so hard at studying up the play that he didn’t even notice Marinette slide into her seat next to him. She had to reach out and place her hand on Adrien’s forearm to gain his attention.

“Adrien? Would you mind if we go and study outside instead? It’s a nice day out and I know after being inside all day, I could really use the fresh air.” Marinette paused as she noticed Adrien looking a little blank, “It looks like you could do with the fresh air too right now” she giggled.

Adrien sat there as the words slowly processed in his mind before answering Marinette, “Yeah, I think that would be a good idea. And, maybe a quick snack to eat while we’re at it. I don’t really work well when I’m running on an empty stomach.” He said while rubbing his belly.

“We could stop in at my parent’s bakery on the way and I could grab a rug to sit on if you like?”

“Yeah, that would be awesome, Marinette!” he replied, sounding overly excited about being able to sneak a pastry or two without his father or Nathalie knowing, “Let’s go get these books out then, grab a snack and the rug, then head on down to the park.”

“Sounds good to me. Thanks, Adrien, for understanding.”

“Anytime Marinette.” He replied flashing her his model grin.

Nino noticed Adrien and Marinette start to pack up their things and head on over to the librarian’s desk. Puzzled, he grabbed Adrien’s attention and gestured a ‘what’s going on’ signal at him.

Adrien just sent back a wink and a smile before turning his attention back to Marinette as they headed out the library doors.

“What the heck just happened?” Nino turned and impatiently asked Alya.

“Let’s just say, I’ll know all the deets in a few hours and then I’ll let you know!” She smiled with a wide sneaky grin before leaning in to kiss him on the cheek, leaving her boyfriend even more frustrated at the vagueness of the situation.


	7. Chapter 7 – Shakespeare in the Park

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reading the play 'Romeo & Juliet' in the park, what could possibly go wrong?

###  **Chapter 7 – Shakespeare in the Park**

Marinette and Adrien had managed to find a nice quiet place in the park, where they could study and talk with a little more peace from all of Adrien’s fans that had swamped them on their way there.

“So, do you think that this kind of thing still happens these days?” Adrien asked after they put down the rug and made themselves comfortable, while they enjoyed their chocolate croissants and chocolate chip cookies.

“Yeah, I do. It may not be played out the same way as in Romeo and Juliet, but the storyline is still quite common.” Marinette replied before taking a bite out of a cookie, “You do know, that in some places, parents will only accept a suitor that fits within some certain criteria and will just about go to lengths to make sure that the unworthy person is removed from the picture.”

Adrien looked down, suddenly saddened by her words, “Yeah, I kind of think I know what you’re talking about there. I’m starting to wonder if my father’s going to arrange for me to marry some stranger that he approves of rather than allow me to find the girl of my dreams.”

“Ohh. I’m really sorry Adrien. I didn’t realise that your father had that much control over you and your life.” She replied quite saddened by his response and realising that she had hit a nerve, “We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to?”

“Nuh, it’s ok Marinette. Actually, I feel really comfortable talking to you about it, because I know I can trust you.” Adrien takes a bite of his croissant and swallows before continuing, “Anyway, like I was saying, it’s bad enough that he tries to control when I eat, sleep, photoshoots and all that but telling me who I can and cannot be friends with drives me insane!”

“So how did you end up convincing him to come to school with us then?”

“Well, long story short, I’d gone behind my father’s back about it and got caught, but thanks to Nathalie, I was able to stay as long as I kept my grades up, which I have and didn’t allow other things to interfere with my Chinese, Fencing and Piano lessons or my Photoshoots.”

“Wow! I’m surprised that you even get a chance to spend time with your friends, but I can also understand why at times you message us to say you’re not coming at the last minute too.”

“Yeah” Adrien sighed, “Anyway, enough about me, my life’s too depressing anyway. How about we get started analysing this play first then we can chat more when we have a break.” Adrien replied, now changing the subject before they got no work done. He was starting to feel uncomfortable by dampening the mood with how sad his reality really was. ' _I wish I could be free like Chat right now!'_

“Sure” as Marinette realised the shift in his body language.

The pair talked about the ins and outs of the play and picked out a few scenes to go back to later for the next 2 hours. The more they talked, the more Marinette started to relax around Adrien and the more playful side of their personalities started to show.

“Wouldn’t it be funny if we reversed the characters genders and acted that out to the class?” Adrien laughed.

“OOO, I’ll be Romette!” Marinette exclaimed.

“I’ll be Julien, then” Adrien replied, as they both buckled over with laughter.

Still laughing, Marinette suddenly stood up with the book and her hands on her heart, she starts reading out part of the scene they were analysing,

“He speaks:

O, speak again, bright angel! for thou art

As glorious to this night, being o'er my head

As is a winged messenger of heaven

Unto the white-upturned wondering eyes

Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him

When he bestrides the lazy-pacing clouds

And sails upon the bosom of the air.”

Adrien jumps up and stands on the nearby park bench and joins in,

“O Romette, Romette! wherefore art thou Romette?

Deny thy father and refuse thy name;

Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,

And I'll no longer be a Capulet.”

Marinette takes a few steps towards Adrien and stops, looking up at him, she’s suddenly caught up once again by those gorgeous green eyes,

“Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?”

Adrien steps down from the park bench, holding Marinette’s gaze and slowly walks up to her until they are centimetres away from each other and continues,

“What's in a name? that which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet;

So Romette would, were she not Romette call'd,

Retain that dear perfection which she owes

Without that title. Romette, doff thy name,

And for that name which is no part of thee

Take all myself.

What woman art thou that thus bescreen'd in night

So stumblest on my counsel?”

Marinette continues, eye’s still locked on his,

“By a name

I know not how to tell thee who I am:

My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself,

Because it is an enemy to thee;

Had I it written, I would tear the word.”

Adrien’s voice was now soft as he lifted a hand and gently brushed Marinette’s cheek before tucking her hair behind her ear,

“My ears have not yet drunk a hundred words

Of that tongue's utterance, yet I know the sound:

Art thou not Romette and a Montague?”

A pink hue suddenly swept across Marinette’s face at his touch,

“Neither, fair saint, if either thee dislike.”

“How camest thou hither, tell me, and wherefore?

The orchard walls are high and hard to climb,

And the place death, considering who thou art,

If any of my kinsmen find thee here.”

Adrien continued, their gaze unbroken.

“With love's light wings did I o'er-perch these walls;

For stony limits cannot hold love out,

And what love can do that dares love attempt;

Therefore thy kinsmen are no let to me.”

Marinette’s heart was now racing and she could start to feel herself getting short on breath.

“If they do see thee, they will murder thee.”

“Alack, there lies more peril in thine eye

Than twenty of their swords: look thou but sweet,

And I am proof against their enmity.”

Marinette noticed that their lips were getting closer now and she could start to feel his breath on her face.

Adrien leaned in closer and whispered,

“I would not for the world they saw thee here.”

Adrien went in for the kiss but right at that very moment, his phone started beeping. He pulled away and pulled his phone out of his pocket, it was Nino. ' _That’s odd'_ , all the message said was ‘trust me, you’ll thank me later my dude.’

“Hey Adrien, what’s the time?” Marinette asked.

“It’s 5:30, why?”

“OH MY GOSH! MY PARENTS ARE GOING TO KILL ME!” She exclaimed.

“What do you mean?” Adrien asked, now looking rather confused.

“I told my parents that I’d be back to help them close up the bakery at 5!” As Marinette rushed back over to the rug and started packing away her books and what was left of their afternoon snack.

Adrien scurried over to assist her with packing up his books and folding up the rug, his mind puzzled by Nino’s random text message. ' _Thank him later? But that doesn’t make any sense. Why would he have chosen to message me now…'_

“Thanks, Adrien, I’ve got to run…”

“Wait, Marinette! Let me help you and walk you home?” as he reached out to grab her arm, ' _oooo, deja vu'._ Adrien quickly let go hoping that she didn’t pick up on the same vibe.

“I’m sorry Adrien, maybe next time, ok?” Marinette replied turning to head off, only she turned too quickly that her feet couldn’t catch up and tripped herself over, throwing the rug and leftover food up in the air.

Adrien moves forward and was able to catch her this time and stay on his feet, her head making a loud ‘THUD’ sound on his chest. He held her close while Marinette found her footing before slowly letting go.

Marinette went to take a step back but felt her ankle give out, “Owww!” she cried “My ankle.”

Adrien picked her up and sat her down on the park bench, as Marinette reached for her right ankle, “Would you mind if I take a look at it for you?” he asked calmly, kneeling down beside her.

Marinette slowly relaxed, letting go of her foot to allowed Adrien to check it out. He carefully took her shoe off to get a better feel of the muscles in her foot and ankle.

“Well, the good news is there’s nothing broken! I think you’ve just sprained it” Adrien says while carefully replacing her shoe back onto her foot. “You probably should ice it when you get home.”

“Ok. But how am I supposed to get home now! I can’t walk home, it hurts too much!” Marinette groaned.

“I’ll take you home, just let me pick up the rug and basket, then we’ll be off” as he walked over to grab the thrown items and brought them back over to where Marinette was sitting. “Here, can you please hold on to these?”

“Um… Ok…” Marinette was now confused as to what was about to happen next, ' _how is he going to take me…'_ “Whoa!!!” she cried as Adrien lifted her off the park bench, carrying her bridal style.

“Sorry, I hope you don’t mind. I just thought this would be the easiest way to carry you home.” Adrien replied, sounding rather apologetic as he makes his way back towards the Dupain-Cheng Bakery. “I’m sorry if this makes you uncomfortable.”

A blush made its way across Marinette’s face, “N…No, it’s fine, perfectly fine!” she squeaked.

“Thank you, Marinette.” Adrien said softly, “It’s been a while since the last time that I could just sit with someone and relax, and just be my real self for a change.”

“Oh! Um… You’re welcome.” Marinette replied, quite surprised. “If you don’t mind me asking, how long if you can remember?”

Marinette saw a sparkle in his eyes and Adrien’s face light up as he ploughed through his memories, “My Mother… she always reminded me that you have to take time out and enjoy the little things and have a bit of fun. She always knew just the right things to say and do when I needed them the most.”

Adrien fights back a tear that starts to form, “It’s funny, because you remind me of her,” ' _Oops that came out wrong!'_ “I mean, you both have similar personalities, both have kind hearts and you both know just what to say or do to someone to make them feel better.” Adrien’s face saddens, “Well, at least that’s what my mother did before she disappeared.”

“Oh… What else was she like?”

Adrien smiled, “My mother was a model when my Father first met her and as she got older, she tried a little acting on the side. Even between photoshoots and meetings, she’d always make sure that she had time scheduled in for Father and I. In a way, you could say I inherited her model looks, but as a male version of her. Father tells me all the time how much I am like her, I suppose that’s part of the reason he doesn’t spend much time with me anymore because I remind him too much of my Mother that he can’t see me for me, his son.”

“That’s really sad, Adrien. I wish your Father could see the wonderful guy I see.” Marinette sighed. ' _Awww, I wish I could just hug him right now.'_ “Just look at how much your life has changed since you started coming to school with us, your _friends_! You have friendships that you’ve made because you wanted them, not because you Father told you who your friends were.”

“True, and I have now learnt what true friendship is, not the kind you have in the modelling world where they’re nice to your face but ready to stab you in the back when you look the other way,” Adrien said as he let out a little chuckle.

“Well, here we are,” he said as they crossed over the road from the park to the bakery.

Sabine just happened to be walking past the bakery doors as she saw Adrien crossing over the road heading towards the bakery, and quickly unlocked the doors to let them in.

“Good heavens Marinette that you’re safe!” Sabine exclaimed, “What happened, we were so worried about you!”

“I’m ok, mum. We just lost track of time studying and when I went to race home, I sprained my ankle. Adrien was kind enough to carry me home because I couldn’t walk on it.”

“Well, let’s head on upstairs then. I’ll take these.” Sabine replied, taking the rug and the basket from Marinette, “Adrien must be getting tired from carrying you all that way by now!”

“MUM!!!” Marinette squeaked, as a blush crept over both her and Adrien’s cheeks.

“I’ll meet you up there in a few minutes, I’ll just finish cleaning and locking up the shop” Tom called out as Sabine lead Adrien up to their apartment.

Adrien whispered, “You can put your arms around my neck if you like while we climb up the stairs if it will make you feel more secure?”

Marinette didn’t even hesitate and wrapped her arms around him and placed her head on his shoulder. She knew making eye contact with him right now could spell disaster so she closed her eyes for a moment and found herself caught up in his strange scent, ' _that’s odd, it smells like his latest fragrance but I smell… cheese? Hmm, strange'._ She opened her eyes just as they were entering the apartment.

Sabine ran to the sofa and shifted some cushions to support Marinette’s back, “Just set her down here thanks, Adrien.”

Adrien gently set Marinette down onto the sofa as Sabine grabbed some ice out of the freezer. Marinette slowly let go and whispered into Adrien’s ear “Thank you, for saving me, my Julien” as Adrien turned to look at her, she gave him a wink.

Adrien, kneeling on the floor by her side, slowly takes off Marinette’s shoe while he waits for Sabine to return with the ice for her ankle. He leans forward to her and whispers, “Is there anything else that my Romette desires?” and the pair immediately burst into laughter.

Confused and clearly missing the inside joke, Sabine walked back over with the ice and a bandage for Marinette’s ankle, “Here you go dear” as she handed them to Adrien.

“Thank you, Mrs Dupain-Cheng” he replied. Adrien carefully held the ice in place as he slowly used the bandage to secure it. “How does that feel, Marinette? It’s not too tight I hope?”

“Thanks, Adrien, no it feels, well, as good as it could feel considering it really cold.” Marinette joked.

Adrien’s phone rang, “Hello… Oh, hi Nathalie… Yes, I won’t be to long… Ok, tell the gorilla I’ll meet him outside the Dupain-Cheng’s bakery in 15 minutes then… Ok, bye.”

“Sorry Marinette, Nathalie’s wondering where I am because dinner is ready and I haven’t made it home yet. Is there anything I could get you before I leave?” Adrien asked as he went to stand.

Sabine walked back over to Marinette and Adrien with a glass of water for both of them in her hands, “Here you two, have a drink, especially you Adrien before you make your way home.”

“Thank you, Mrs Dupain-Cheng”

“Thanks, Mom” Marinette replied before returning her attention to Adrien, “Thanks, Adrien but I think I’m all good for the moment” as she patted the school bag that was next to her on the floor.

“Well, I better get going then. I don’t want to keep the gorilla waiting, that could get messy.” Adrien joked as he placed the glass down on the kitchen bench and picked up his satchel.

“Here, I’ll walk you out on my way down to check on Tom in the bakery,” Sabine said as she started heading back towards the door.

“Oh, ok. Thank you.” Adrien turned back to Marinette, “I’ll see you tomorrow at school, Marinette.”

“Thank you, Adrien, for bringing me home. See you tomorrow” Marinette replied as Sabine closed the door.

Adrien and Sabine walked halfway down the stairs before Sabine turned to talk to Adrien, “Thank you for helping bring Marinette home today.”

“You’re welcome, Mrs Dupain-Cheng.”

“You seem to care a great deal for Marinette, don’t you?” as Sabine paused to gauge his reaction.

Adrien looked in surprise before answering, “I’m I being that obvious?”

Sabine nodded, “Yes, dear. It’s ok you know. She’s been waiting for you for quite a while now but was always too scared. She doesn’t know that I know and I won’t say anything about this to her either. It can be our little secret, ok?”

Adrien relaxed and nodded, “Thank you for understanding, I guess I’m still waking up to my realisation about my feelings for her, so much so that I’m having a lot of trouble controlling my emotions when I’m around her.” He sighed before continuing, “Now that I know, I don’t want to come on too strong and scare her. I’m scared because I don’t know what to do.”

“Just relax and be yourself, take your time. You’ll be fine.” She replied as she opened the front door to the apartment block, “Thank you again, Adrien, for bringing Marinette home safely.”

“You’re welcome, anytime” as they both waved and the door closed.


	8. Chapter 8 – Returning Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette's clumsy day is about to get worse and in the process, with Tikki's help, Marinette regains her memories from earlier.
> 
> Nino presses Adrien about what he was trying to pull at the park while Alya enjoys stirring Marinette about the almost kiss.

###  **Chapter 8 – Returning Memories**

Back up in the apartment, Marinette finally lets Tikki out of her purse.

“Well, that was an interesting turn in events” Tikki exclaimed.

“I’m not sure I’m following you, Tikki?” Marinette replied, confused by her Kwami’s comment.

“What  _ do _ you remember about today’s events, Marinette?”

“Hmm... Well, let me see… I know I was distracted in English class and had Adrien ask me to be his partner for our project. Um, I know I tripped up going down the stairs and ended up falling on top of Adrien, then I bolting for the bathroom to die of embarrassment. I remember the nurse’s office, with Alya, Nino and Adrien checking in on me over the afternoon, the library and the park. Why?” Marinette replied as she scratches her head trying to remember all the details.

“Are you sure you don’t remember anything between running to the bathroom and the nurse’s office?” Tikki replied.

“Why? Did something happen?”

“Seriously? Don’t you remember anything?” Tikki gasped.

“No”

Tikki facepalms herself and shakes her head, “Oh, Marinette! You really did lose your memory when you bumped your head today, didn’t you.”

“What do you mean I hit my head?” as Marinette starts feeling through her hair and locates a very sore patch and a large bump, “Ouch! Tikki what happened?” as Marinette started to panic.

“Calm down, Marinette. Everything’s fine, I promise.” Tikki reassures her, as Marinette took a deep breath to try and calm down. “Remember how you ran to the bathroom?” Tikki started.

“Yes…”

“Well, Adrien tried to follow you to make sure you were ok”

“WHAT!!!!”

“But that’s not all”

“What do you mean that’s not all?”

“Well, you see, we kinda overheard a conversation that sounded like it was between Alya, Nino and Adrien. They were talking about you, Marinette!”

“Me! Why would they be talking about me for?” Marinette replied, still not quite following where Tikki was going.

“Because Adrien likes you!” Tikki squeaked.

Marinette laughed, “Don’t be ridiculous, Tikki. Adrien has never shown an interest in me that way before, why would he do it now?”

“Would you like me to refresh your memory then?” Tikki asked.

“Sure, humour me then,” Marinette replied sarcastically.

“Ok, why was Adrien so eager to turn around during roll call today to try and sneak a look at you but got caught out by Alya for starters. Then he told Chloe that he wanted to be your partner for the Shakespeare assignment without asking you first?” Tikki began.

“We’re just classmates and he didn’t get a chance to say good morning to me today. Maybe he used it as an excuse to get away from Chloe?” She responded.

“Why would he seem overly concerned about you when you fell down the stairs, then run off after you when you bolted?”

“To make sure I didn’t hurt myself?”

“Why would he admit to Nino and Alya while trying to talk to you outside the bathroom that he had just worked out that he has feelings for you and that he needed some time because he felt confused and that there are things that make it complicated?”

“WAIT! HE SAID WHAT!” Marinette jumped up so high in both shock and surprise that she slipped and fell off the couch so hard, that as she hit the ground, she knocked herself out, again.

“MARINETTE! Oh, not again!” Tikki cried.

...

Back downstairs after Adrien and Sabine had said goodbye, the front door closed and Adrien started heading towards the side of the road waiting for the Gorilla to pick him up.

“Seriously dude, you need your head checked if you think by playing it cool and working out your feelings means almost kissing her twice in a day! You’re a crazy man!” Nino exclaimed as he walked up to Adrien.

“Nino! Why are you here?” Adrien jumped in surprise.

“I’m here to stop you from doing something stupid and ruining everything! See for yourself!” as Nino pulled out his phone and showed Adrien the picture of him and Marinette about to kiss while they were reciting the Shakespeare scene.

“Nino! Where did you get that from?” Adrien squeaked.

“My man, I had to keep tabs on you somehow. You ditched Alya and I back at the library without a word on where you were going. I managed to wrangle something about going to the park out of Alya, then I catch you doing this!” As he shows Adrien the video footage of him and Marinette getting ‘up close and personal’ while reciting the same Shakespeare scene.

“NINO! You two were spying on us!” Adrien exclaimed.

“Call it spying if you wish. All I’m trying to do is keep my best bud here safe. You should know by now that I only ever have your best interest at heart!” Nino replied as he wrapped his arm around Adrien’s shoulders.

“I feel like I should be mad at you about spying on us, but I’m not” Adrien replied, “Your absolutely right Nino, I’m glad I have a best friend like you who looks out for me.”

“Yeah, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for my best bud. Now can you do me a favour and just ask her to be your date for the Spring Dance coming up?” Nino said, taking another stab at Adrien for his own entertainment.

“Nino! It’s too soon to do that” Adrien replied, “Look, I promise that when the time is right, then I will ask her, Ok?”

“You know I’m going to hold you to that don’t you!” Nino teased, lightly punching Adrien in the arm as the Gorilla pulled up beside them.

“I know you will” Adrien replied.

“Anyway, I’ll catch you tomorrow, and Adrien, no more overboard, Ok” Nino waved as Adrien got into his ride home.

Adrien waved out the window while saying to himself “No more overboard? Huh, no more overboard. How am I supposed to do that!”

...

Back inside the Dupain-Cheng’s building, Marinette’s crash was so loud that Sabine who had just finished letting Adrien out heard the noise, cried out to Tom for help and raced back up to the apartment. Tikki heard the footsteps coming closer and quickly hid back into Marinette’s purse.

Sabine swung open the front door to find Marinette passed out on the floor and raced to her side. Just as Tom got to the doorway, Sabine cried out to him, “Honey, call the doctor, it’s an emergency!” She reached out and grabbed Marinette’s hand and started stroking her forehead calmly talking to her saying, “It’s going to be alright now sweetie, help is on the way.”

Tom bolted for the phone and had started relaying details to the person on the other end and within minutes a doctor had arrived at the apartment. No sooner had the doctor walked in the door, Marinette started to come around.

“Mum? Dad? What’s going on here?” as Marinette looked around the room, she was puzzled by her parents and a doctor hanging around her. She suddenly realised that she was on the floor again, “Ah, how did I get down here?”

“We don’t know sweetie. I just heard a crash from in here after I let Adrien out and found you out cold on the floor. What’s happened to you today?” Sabine asked, really concerned now.

“Um, I had an accident at school around lunchtime. I hit my head in the girl’s bathroom and Alya found me out cold on the floor when she came in looking for me.” Marinette replied.

“Ok then, just let me do a quick check over you anyway just to make sure. By the way, my name is Doctor Bureau. I see you were trying to ice your ankle. When did that happen?” Doctor Bureau asked.

“Oh, yeah, I forgot I had ice on my ankle. I hurt that this afternoon while at the park. I can get a little bit clumsy at times” Marinette replied, a little embarrassed.

“So it seems” Doctor  Bureau replied as he started his check with Marinette’s eyes.

“Yeah, today seems to be one of my bad days.” Marinette sighed.

“It’s ok Marinette, we all have those kinds of days you know,” Sabine said, trying to cheer Marinette up.

“I know. Thanks, mum” She replied.

After 10 minutes, Doctor  Bureau had finished checking out Marinette’s head and ankle. “I’d suggest strapping that ankle for a couple of days, just to give it a little bit extra support. As for your head and your memory loss, everything seems to be just fine and back to normal.”

“What memory loss?” Marinette replied starting to freak out. “I’ve been fine all day! What are you talking about?”

Doctor  Bureau turned to Marinette’s parents, “Mr and Mrs Dupain-Cheng, this behaviour is quite normal for a person who doesn’t realise that they have suffered from short-term memory loss. There’s nothing to be alarmed about.” He said quite calmly as Tom held Sabine in a comforting embrace as they nodded to acknowledge the doctor’s remarks.

“Why are you talking about me like that? I didn’t lose my memory!” Marinette protested.

“Sweetie, the school nurse called me and told me that you had no idea of what happened after you entered the bathroom and that the first thing you remembered was waking up in her office” Sabine cried, as she started to become overwhelmed by everything that was happening.

“But Mom, I told you, I hit my head on one of the bathroom basins. I must have hit it really hard to knock myself out” Marinette replied.

“I’m sorry Sweetie, but this is the first time that you have mentioned anything about it.” Sabine softly replied.

“I’ll take that as my cue to leave now. I think a good night’s rest would be a good idea and just be a little more careful of your surroundings next time, ok?” Doctor  Bureau said as he packed up his bag ready to leave.

“Yes, doctor. Thank you” Marinette replied reluctantly.  _ Please don’t let there be any Akuma victims tonight or for the next few days! _

“Thank you for coming and checking Marinette out for us. We’ll make sure she takes it easy over the next couple of days.” Tom said as he shook Doctor  Bureau's hand on his way out.

Tom escorted the doctor back downstairs, while Sabine served up some of the casserole that she had made. “Here sweetie, eat your dinner then we’ll help you upstairs to your room where you can relax, ok? I’m just going back down to check that the bakery is all closed up and ready for tomorrow.”

“Thanks, mom, you guys are the best,” Marinette replied as she sat down at the dining table to eat her meal.

“You’re welcome, sweetie” Sabine called back on her way out the door.

As soon as the door clicked closed, Tikki flew out of Marinette’s purse, “You really had me worried there for a bit, Marinette!” She said in a stern voice, “but I’m really glad that you are ok” her voice softer this time.

“I’m really sorry Tikki, I didn’t mean to worry you like that” Marinette sighed.

“Are you ok, Marinette?” Tikki asked, sounding a little concerned.

“Adrien likes me!” Marinette said softly.

“Adrien likes me!” she said a bit louder.

“TIKKI, ADRIEN LIKES ME! AHHHHHH!” she was now yelling. “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! What do I do? I can’t exactly just throw myself at him now!”

“Well… You could, but you wouldn’t be able to form any sentences for starters” Tikki joked.

“Tikki! That’s not fair! I can too form sentences when I talk to him!”

“Only after 20 minutes of him talking to you first!” Tikki replied, enjoying playing around with Marinette off guard.

The pair burst out into fits of laughter, Marinette knowing all too well that Tikki was right.

“So, what should I do now?” Marinette said after they had calmed themselves down. “I can’t tell him that I overheard their whole conversation. That would make things really awkward.”

At that moment, Marinette’s phone starting ringing. Tikki flew into Marinette’s bag, grabbed the phone and placed it into Marinette’s hand as they both looked at who was calling. It was Alya.

“Oh, boy. I know what this will be about. Thanks, Tikki!” Marinette said as she answered Alya’s video call.

“What took you so long to answer, Gurl!” Alya said with an impatient tone to her voice.

“Oh, Sorry Alya. My phone was in my bag and I had to hop over to answer it.” Marinette replied.

“Hop over to your phone?” Alya replied with a confused tone to her voice, “Please don’t tell me you’ve hurt yourself again today!”

“Let’s just say, I’ve had a really bad day when it comes to my clumsiness” Marinette replied sheepishly while glowing red with embarrassment.

“Come on Gurl, you need to keep yourself together! Besides, you have someone else’s attention chasing after you right now” Alya smirked on the other end of the phone line.

“Alya, you know I don’t like it when you play games like this with me!” Marinette replied.

“Well, maybe this might help jog your memory” as Alya sends Marinette the photo of her almost kissing Adrien in the park.

“EEEEEKKKKKKK! ALYA! Where did you get that…hang on, you saw that! You were there, weren’t you!” Marinette’s emotions were now getting the best of her and she was flipping out.

“Errrrr… I swear, it wasn’t my idea! Blame Nino!” Alya started to recoil.

“Seriously Alya, you’re the only one that I know of the can take these kinds of candid photos on a phone. I bet you enjoyed every minute of taking them! It’s not like you’ve set up a page about us on that ‘shipping’ website now!”

“Ahhh…”

“ALYA!!!! Are you crazy!” Marinette exploded.

“Hey, I’m not the only one who wants to see the ‘Adrienette’ ship sail now!” Alya responded, “It’s not our fault that the two of you are so blind that you can’t figure things out for yourselves. Do we have to spell  it  out for you guys or something!”

“WHAT! I don’t know what you are talking about!”

“Oh, come on! You know that I know how much of a crush you have on ‘Wonder Boy’! What you’re failing to see is…” the twins, Ella and Etta jumped on Alya and caused her to drop her phone mid-sentence.

“Alya! Mum sent us to come to get you for dinner right now!” Ella and Etta said together as they giggled with glee.

“Ok, ok, just get off me! Tell mum I’ll be out in a minute.” Alya replied, a little bit annoyed.

“OK,” They both said as they shifted off Alya so she could move again.

“Now get going before I send you both to bed without your dinner so that the Sapotis will get you! Growl!!!” Alya cried playfully.

“EEEKKKK!” the twins cried, cackling all the way back to their mother.

Alya reached out for her phone and brought herself back into view, “Sorry Gurl, gotta split. I’ll see you at school tomorrow, K.”

Marinette sighed, “Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

As Marinette hung up the phone and set it down on the table next to her, she let out a huge cry of frustration, “Gawwww! Why does everything in life have to be so hard and complicated Tikki!” before she had another mouthful of her meal.

“Because if life was so easy, then the world wouldn’t need us Kwami’s for starters, then there would be no need for Ladybug and Chat Noir to be the protectors of Paris now would there?” Tikki replied.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“So, what are you going to do now?”

“I don’t know right now, but I’m sure I’ll find a way by tomorrow, even if it means sleeping on it” Marinette replied, deep in thought. Little did she know, that the answer to her thoughts would soon be answered.


	9. Chapter 9 – A Truth Told

###  **Chapter 9 – A Truth Told**

“Goodnight Nathalie” Adrien called out as he was about to head up to his room the night.

“Goodnight Adrien. Don’t forget you have that photoshoot your Father organised for you straight after school tomorrow and your piano tutor has just confirmed your piano exam for 8 am Saturday morning, so don’t forget to practise.” Nathalie replied.

“Thanks, Nathalie. I won’t.” Adrien sighed, as he walked the staircase to his bedroom.

Adrien walked into his room and close the door behind him, headed straight for his bed and flopped on his back. As soon as he hit the bed, Plagg came screaming out of Adrien’s shirt.

“Adrien, where’s my cheese? I’m dying over here!” Plagg said, pretending to pass out from starvation.

“Here” Adrien replied, still laying on his bed but completely spaced out as he handed Plagg his cheese.

“Kid, you were way too emotional for me to handle today! Maybe you should go take an icy cold shower to cool yourself down!” Plagg complained.

Adrien sighed and roll over to face the wall next to his bed.

Plagg finished scoffing down the last of his meal when he realised that Adrien wasn’t moving and flew over to check on him. “It’s been a lot harder than you thought it would have been, you know, knowing her identity and not been able to tell her who you are, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know what to do Plagg! If I keep doing what I’m doing, I could scare her off completely. If I take too much of a backwards step, I could lose her altogether.” Adrien cried out, extremely frustrated at himself.

“Ick, lovey-dovey stuff! I can’t help you there. Is there anyone else that you could talk with about this lovey-dovey stuff too?” Plagg replied in disgust.

Adrien sat up on the end of his bed, “I can’t talk to Nino, I tried that earlier today when he was with Alya, but neither of them can understand how complicated all of this is. The only family I could really talk to about these things with is gone. I can’t talk about this with Ladybug because it’s too personal and close to revealing my civilian identity and all my other friends aren’t that close so that I wouldn’t discuss this kind of issue with any of them. The only other person I could talk with is…” he stopped and his heart sank, his face dropped and he fell backwards again onto his bed as he realised who.

“Is who, Adrien?” Plagg shot over, extremely curious as to who he was thinking of.

Adrien sighed, “It doesn’t matter, Plagg. I wouldn’t be able to talk to her about it anyway.”

“Adrien, who is ‘she’?” Plagg said sternly.

Adrien sighed. He knew his Kwami wouldn’t let up until he gave Plagg an answer, “It’s… It’s Marinette.” He said before curling back onto his side again.

“Marinette, well that’s great!” The curious Kwami cried.

Adrien sat back up in confusion over the excitement in Plagg’s voice. “Have you gone crazy, Plagg? There’s nothing ‘ _ great’ _ about me talking to her about how I feel about her as Adrien!”

“No, that would be me going onto eBay and buying you a coffin and burying you in the backyard if you did that!” Plagg replied sarcastically.

“PLAGG! You’re not helping here!” Adrien’s frustration was starting to show through again.

“Kid, you’re missing the point here! Ok, so you can’t go talk to her as Adrien, but… you can talk to her as Chat Noir. Besides, weren’t you going to be going and visiting her tonight to check up on her anyway?” Plagg replied, floating in an overly proud like posture.

“Plagg! You’re a genius!” Adrien exclaimed, “Why didn’t I think of that!”

“Do you really want me to answer that for you?”

“It would be better for me if you don’t!” Adrien replied ruefully.

“So, what the plan then?”

“PLAGG! CLAWS OUT!”

“Oh no! I spoke too soon!” Plagg cried out as he was being sucked into Adrien’s ring.

...

Marinette was trying to make herself comfortable on her chaise lounge after her Father, Tom Dupain had helped her upstairs to her room to retire for the night when she heard an all too familiar knock at her balcony window. She slowly limped over and unlock the hatch to let Chat Noir in.

As the hatch opened, Chat’s head popped into view, “Hello Purrrincess, how are y…” He stopped mid-sentence, seeing her ankle bound up as he remembered the accidents that she’d had over the course of the day. “I’m sorry, Purincess. I didn’t realise that you had been in the wars today or I would have been here sooner to check in on you” he said, as he slipped down into Marinette’s bedroom.

Marinette tucked a piece of hair behind an ear, “It’s ok Chat, I’ve just had a bit of a rough day” she sighed.

“Here, let me help you” as Chat swept her up off her feet, took her down the stairs and gently laid her down on her chaise lounge, helping her to rest her foot. “So, what happened to you today that’s got you all banged up?”

“It’s nothing really, just me being my clumsy self. Nothing compared to a superhero who takes all those hits during Akuma fights like you do” Marinette replied, looking rather embarrassed and avoiding eye contact with him.

Chat knelt down beside Marinette, his hand reached up to caress her face before drawing it back so he could make eye contact with her, “You don’t have to be a superhero to be important and cared about by others you know!” He said softly and sincerely, “And rumour has it that you took a tumble down a flight of stairs and didn’t even break a nail! That’s rather impressive, even by my standards!” he teased, casually inspecting his claws while watching as Marinette’s eyes and jaw flew open at his comment.

“How did you…” she squeaked, before Marinette paused to re-compose herself, “Ok, so I may have done that at school, but it’s nothing, really,” she said, as Marinette broke the grip holding her face, so she could look away again. She didn’t want Chat to see the tears that were starting to well up in her eyes after the emotionally draining day that she’d had.

“Purrrincess” Chat purred softly, “you do realise that I have eyes and ears everywhere, don’t you? And I also know that your fall down the stairs at school today wasn’t how you got this injury either” as he pointed down to her bandaged ankle. “Is it ok for a ‘ _ Superhero’ _ like me to be concerned about the welfare of others, especially my friends?”

Marinette nodded, still avoiding eye contact in fear that the tears would start to flow if she looked over at him.

Chat stood up and joined Marinette on the chaise then leaned in to give her a hug placing one arm around her and gently pulled her head into his shoulder with the other. Marinette flinched as Chat touched the lump on the back of her head and he pulled his hand away as soon he realised what he has found.

“Is that a lump I just felt on the back of your head?” Chat exclaimed, really concerned.

Marinette’s body slumped and she pulled her legs into her chest in defeat, “Yes Chat, it is”

“Please Puurrincess, please tell me what happened to you today” he pleaded with her.

Marinette sighed, “Where do you want me to start?”

“How about the first thing that happened to you today” Chat replied.

Marinette took a deep breath in, “Well, I took your advice about doing something different and wore an outfit that I had designed that was inspired by you actually. This shirt and matching jacket” as she gestured at the shirt she was still wearing and the jacket that was now hanging over the back of her computer chair.

Chat’s eyes widened in surprise, “Really! Did I inspire you with these designs? I love them!” he exclaimed as he jumped up to take a closer look at the jacket, “The emerald green colour of the polyester really matches my eyes! However, did you manage to match the colour so well?”

“Thank you,” she said sheepishly, “Hang on, you know what fabric I used by looking at it?”

“Ummm… let’s just say that my civilian self knows a thing or two about fabrics” Chat replied, realising the mistake he had made. “You didn’t answer my question though”

“My friend Alya takes a lot of photos of Ladybug and Chat Noir for her blog, the Ladyblog. I was able to use those pictures of you to find the right colour that would match”

“Well, you have a keen eye when it comes to choosing the right colours for your work”

“Thanks, Chat” she replied, “Anyway, I was running late to school so I only just got to my seat as the bell rang. Apparently, Alya caught Adrien trying to turn around to catch a glance at me as Ms Bustier was doing roll call.”

“Well that’s a good start, right?” Chat queried.

“Yeah, I guess. Anyway, during class, we were told that we had to work in pairs for a Shakespeare assignment and when Chloe told Adrien that he was working with her, he told her that he was already going to do the assignment with me, without asking first!”

“Well, would you have said no if he had asked first?” Chat replied, a little puzzled as to how this could be a drama for her.

“NO!” she blurted out, a little too quickly. “I mean, it would have been nice if he was able to ask me first.”

“Ahhh, I see. So, you think that he just assumed that you would agree to work on the assignment with you then” Chat replied, rubbing his chin with his thumb and finger in the thinking motion while nodding in agreeance. “That makes sense. And I bet this Chloe girl  _ loved _ every minute of you spending time with him instead of her too!” Chat said sarcastically.

A smile broke across Marinette’s face,  _ ‘Yes! I got her to smile!’ _ Chat thought to himself.

“Yeah, she threw death threats at me” Marinette replied, “But it was nice to be able to spend a little time with Adrien, even if it is just for a school assignment.”

“So, what happened next?” Chat asked.

“Well, the rest of the morning ended up being a bit of a blur, to be honest. I think I must have had my head stuck in the clouds or something from my  _ Adrien _ encounter”

Chat had to turn away for a brief moment to hide the red hue that was creeping out from under his mask. “So, I take it that your flight down the stairs was what happened next then?”

“Yeah, Alya and I were last out of the classroom so she had called out to the boys from the balcony to wait up so we could join them for lunch. Alya was dragging me down the stairs so fast that all I remember is that I somehow missed the last 10 steps of the staircase with Adrien breaking my fall. I can’t remember if I even thanked him for breaking my fall, but I was so embarrassed that I ran off and hid in the girl’s bathroom crying.”

“Hmmm. Sounds like someone helped you to fall down those stairs if you ask me!”

“What do you mean? You think someone tripped me up on the staircase on purpose?” Marinette responded in surprise.

“Well, it’s a little bit hard to completely miss 10 steps on purpose now, isn’t it?” Chat replied.

“True, I hadn’t thought about it that way”

“So, then what happened?” Chat asked, encouraging her to continue.

“While I was in the bathroom, I heard a noise at the doors, so I decided to sit behind one of the doors to find out what all the commotion was about and I may have overheard a conversation I shouldn’t have,” Marinette said, getting quieter and quieter, rather embarrassed that she was admitting to eavesdropping to a Superhero.

“You heard what now?” Chat said, his eyes widened as he started to realise exactly what conversation Marinette was referring to.

“Ok, I’ll tell you, but you have to promise me that you won’t tell anyone about what I heard outside the bathroom, especially Adrien, OK?” Marinette replied, a little frazzled.

“Chat’s honour” he replied, holding one hand in the air with the other hand over his heart and secretly crossed his ankles without Marinette knowing. It hurt him to make that promise knowing all too well that she was about to confess to ‘Adrien’, the only differences were that he was in a mask and that she didn’t know it was him under it.

“OK” Marinette calmed herself down again, “So, I overheard a conversation that just happened to be between my friends, Alya, Nino and Adrien. At first, I thought it was just some random heated discussion, but as I listened in by the door, that’s when I found out that they were grilling Adrien because he’s trying to figure out his feelings for me but was also saying how things were complicated at the same time, so he couldn’t just come out and confess his feeling to me either.”

Chat froze, his blood had gone cold. She knew. She heard everything, well  _ Adrien’s _ confession, so how should he be trying to proceed with things now? Chat’s emotions were starting to bubble over on the inside again.

“… so, what do you think I should do, Chat? Chat? Chat, are you ok?” Marinette said as she looked up to see Chat looking blankly into space, before leaning in to hug him, which helped snap him back to reality.

“Oh, sorry princess. You see, it sounds to me that your friend Adrien might have always had strong feelings for you, but just never knew it and now that he has figured out those feelings are genuine and are at a more than ‘just a friend’ level, he is torn between what he thought was real and what is real. Does that make any sense to you?” Chat quickly replied as he tried to race through his mind to give her some kind of answer.  _ ‘Man, I wish I could give myself this kind of advice! _

“Hmm. I never really thought about it that way. But, there was a mention about someone else that he has feelings for as well. The only person I can think of that I know he speaks of is Ladybug” Marinette replied, a little confused by his bizarre explanation.

“Well, that’s game over right there!” Chat joked as he panicked on the inside.

“But why would anyone of  _ his _ calibre want me? Look at me, I’m a mess! I’m just a clumsy baker’s daughter with a dream of working in the fashion industry.” Marinette squeaked as she pulled her legs up to her chest once again but this time, she buried her head between her knees.

Chat reached out and placed a hand on one of her shoulder’s, “Marinette, you shouldn’t criticise yourself so much. You are a wonderful person who has many, many talents and the way you treat your friends and those around you with your kindness and generosity is more than worth any weight in gold. I’m just honoured that you accept me as a friend and treat me no different than anyone else instead of idolising me like most of Paris does” he said sincerely.

“But I would only cause him more problems and cost too much in damages if he took me out to any of those expensive places where celebrities dine and hang out at” She whined.

“It doesn’t matter who your parents are or if you’re just a little bit clumsy at times, the point is that all these things help make you unique and I’m sure that I um...” Chat quickly cleared his throat, “Adrien doesn’t see you that way either. If he thought that you were a problem or even that you would be too costly or high maintenance, would he still be silly enough to try and pursue you like he is?” Chat replied.

Marinette looked up at him as his words started to sink in, “Hmmm…”

“What is it, Princess?” praying that she hadn’t heard his slip up.

“Hmm... You’ve just given me a lot to think about, that’s all.” She replied, deep in thought.

“Would you like it if I gave you some space to think on your own then?”

“No.” She replied.

“No?” Chat queried.

“I don’t really want to be on my own right now otherwise my mind will start overthinking all of today’s events and I could really use the company that isn’t my parents if you can understand what I mean. Besides, you’re looking a little frazzled yourself, Chat. Are you ok? You didn’t answer me when I asked you earlier.”

“Well, no, not really to be honest. It’s funny because I was coming to talk with you and ask for some advice as my civilian self is a bit of a mess emotionally too. You're the only one I can talk to right now and if I tried to talk to Ladybug about it, she will shut me down for being too close to revealing my identity to her" Chat’s body slumped.

“Don’t you have friends that you could talk to as your civilian self?” Marinette asked.

“I do, but I can’t exactly explain the whole ‘ _ superhero’ _ scenario to them. Besides, I tried that already and because I can’t reveal my identity to them, they can’t understand the full story of my dilemma.” Chat explained.

“Ahhh. Well, that makes sense then. So, how can I help you then?”

“Well I have a friend that I have developed feelings for and now I don’t know how I should be acting around her. I’m struggling to keep my emotions in check because I don’t want to scare her off and I don’t know how she feels about me as to know if she would want to spend more time with me on our own rather than as part of a group” Chat explained.

“Have you tried to ask her or had someone else ask her on your behalf? That would be a good place to start”

“Well, every time I try and approach her, she talks to me like she’s scared of me and if I tried to get one of my friends to find out for me, they would tell me to just go and talk to her and ask her myself or laugh at me” Chat sighed, feeling defeated.

“There must be something that you’re missing if your friends are laughing at you about getting them to ask what she thinks of you. Could it be that she’s acting that way because she likes you, not because she’s scared of you?” Marinette asked.

“What do you mean?” Chat asked, curious as to what her answer will be.

“Well, you know I have a crush on Adrien, right. Well, when I’m with everyone else, I talk like I’m talking to you now. Whenever I’m with Adrien, I feel like my brain short circuits and my body stops functioning so trying to form  _ ‘normal’ _ sentences are really hard and I often wonder if my weirdness when I’m around him makes him want to avoid me.”

“I get it. Whenever I’m with her, my heart feels like it’s about to beat right out of my chest, I try to play it cool but I feel so nervous that it makes me feel nauseous. I feel like I’m in heaven when I’m with her but the sound of her voice brings me back to Earth, to her. I look forward to seeing her every day because she brightens my day, she’s the light to my darkness.”

Marinette watched Chat’s body language as he talked about this girl that made his heart swell with the same warmth that she felt as she does when she talks about Adrien, but at the same time, she felt a little jealous by his infatuation and couldn’t figure out why.  _ ‘Nuh, I’m just been one of those overprotective friends, I should be happy that he has found someone who makes him feel that way.’ _

“It’s really obvious to me that you really love her, don’t you?” Marinette enquired.

“I… Love… Her…” Chat froze as the words started to register, “Oh My Gosh! I love her! I’m in love with her! That’s why things weren’t making sense to me all this time! Thank you, Marinette!” as he leaned over and gave her a great big hug then pulled back enough to kiss her on the lips in all the excitement.

“Chat?” Marinette squeaked, a wave of panic flowed over her as she turned red in embarrassment.

Chat realised the move he’d made and also started panicking, “I’m so sorry, Princess! I don’t know what came over me. I was so excited and caught up in the little moment that I didn’t realise what I was doing. Please forgive me?” he pleaded.

“Chat, I think now would be a good time to leave!” Marinette cried with panic in her voice.

“Yes, Princess. I’m sorry Princess.” Chat sighed as he stood up and slowly dragged himself over the balcony hatch. He unhitched his stave off his back and turned to look at Marinette one last time before heading on up, “I am truly sorry Princess if I have upset you, it was never my intent. I hope you sleep well and you will allow me to come to visit you again tomorrow to see how you are doing?”

Marinette just sat there in silence, her back turned to him as the tears welling up in her eyes once more and started to flow.

Chat dropped his head before turning around, used his stave to lift him up onto the balcony before turning back around and kneeling, ready to close the hatch. “Goodnight, Princess!” he called back to her as he closed the hatch and headed back home.

Marinette waited until she heard Chat’s footsteps leap off her balcony, “Goodnight Chat” she said as she turned into a blubbering, emotional mess.

Tikki had seen everything and instantly flew out of the dollhouse as soon as Chat had departed to comfort Marinette, “It’s going to be ok, we’ll work this all out together”.


	10. Chapter 10 – Change of Direction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After being scolded for his shocking facial appearance, that even makeup couldn't hide, on the day of a photo shoot, Adrien gets some advice from Nathalie after she notices his strange mood, one that she had never seen with him before. Marinette doesn't make it to school today which ends up causing a heated disagreement between Nino and Alya while Adrien gets a bit sneaky.

###  **Chapter 10 – Change of Direction**

Adrien stirred to the sound of Nathalie banging on his bedroom door early the next morning, “Adrien! Are you in there? I’ve been waiting for you to respond for 5 minutes now! Are you ok?” her voice filled with panic flowed through the cracks of the door.

Adrien sat up, stretched and yawned, “Come in Nathalie” he called out sleepily.

The bedroom door flew open and Gabriel’s now extremely flustered assistant came hurrying in, walked over to Adrien’s bed then looked up at the teenager with dark rings around his eyes, “Adrien! Just look at the state you’re in!” She squeaked, dropping her tablet onto the floor in shock at seeing Adrien’s face, “You’re Father’s going to fire me for this one!”

Adrien yawned again, “I can’t look that bad, can I? I’ve done photo shoots off less sleep before.”

Nathalie quickly switched the tablet onto selfie camera mode and handed the tablet to show Adrien his face.

Adrien’s jaw dropped, “I’m so sorry Nathalie. It seems that I keep messing everything up with everyone at the moment” he replied sounding deflated and disappointed with himself. He laid back down, curled up in his bed and hid back under his covers, hiding from both Nathalie and the morning light that was now glaring through his windows.

Nathalie immediately noticed the strange and out of character response and sat down on the end of his bed. “Adrien. Is there something wrong that I should know about? You know you can always talk to me about anything right?” She said, concern echoing in her voice.

Adrien poked his head back out of the covers to look at her, “I’m just a bit of an emotional wreck at the moment. A few recent events have kind of knocked me hard, leaving me a bit restless and so I haven’t been able to sleep properly” he explained.

“Ahhh, sounds like girl troubles to me there” She replied.

Adrien bolted up in his bed, “Wha… How did you…” trying to respond, but the words wouldn’t come out.

“Surely you don’t need me to spell it out to you? You’re a teenage boy after all, and since you started attending school, you’ve been around lots of different girls, surely you’ve come across one or two who’s personalities have caught your interest!” Nathalie pointed out.

Adrien’s face turned beet red.

“Breathe Adrien, otherwise you’re just going to make yourself look worse if I’m unable to change today’s photo shoot to another day.” She replied calmly.

Adrien closed his eyes, took in a few deep breaths and let them out slowly, helping to recompose himself before opening his eyes again but remained staring down at his sheets.

“Now then, care to explain your situation?” Nathalie softly spoke, making Adrien feel warm and relaxed like he was safe in her presence.

Adrien sighed, “I guess my situation would be the equivalent of falling for a person with split personalities or that of a superhero and falling for both sides of them only to find out that they were the same person all along.”

“Ok, that’s an interesting concept, but I can understand where you’re trying to go here. Please, continue.” Nathalie replied, intrigued by his current thought process.

“I had tried to deny that I had feelings for one side of them, not knowing at the time that they are one and the same. But no matter how hard I tried to push those feelings away, they just kept coming back stronger and stronger and I couldn’t understand why, until now.”

“Those are all normal teenage emotions Adrien, so what’s the part that you’re having problems with?”

Adrien turned to look at Nathalie, “Now I’m confused on how I should be around her. I want to be with her, I just don’t know how to go about being with her without scaring her.” Adrien’s head dropped again to look at his bedsheets once more.

“Ah, searching for the calm amongst the chaos. Well for starters, back off a little and give her a bit of space. She will probably need the time to process any moves you’ve already made on her that have come across a bit strong.” Nathalie replied.

“Oh, Nino mentioned something about that to me last night too, I just didn’t know what he meant or how I should take his advice.”

“Well then, why don’t you start off with spending small amounts of time with her but in the process, making it enjoyable so that will make her want to spend more time with you. If she really wants to be with you, then she will start to interact with you more and maybe even initiate the conversations herself rather than be nervous around you” Nathalie explained.

“Ok, so how do I get around having to spend so much time with her for our Literature assignment that’s due at school this week?” Adrien queried.

“Ok, so don’t touch her unless you have to. If you do accidentally touch her, make sure it’s soft and gentle. Keep it simple with a smile or gesture but don’t overdo it and be fake, but most importantly, be yourself. If she already likes you for the person you are on the inside, like I suspect, then show her who you really are. Be real and allow yourself to be vulnerable so she can see you and your heart” She replied sincerely.

Adrien’s body language began to perk up as her words started to sink in, “Wow! Thanks, Nathalie. I really needed your advice to help put things more into perspective.” He was starting to look lighter like a heavyweight had just been lifted off his shoulders.

“I can give you an extra 30 minutes rest, but then you’ll have to rush to get ready for school on time while I try and sort out this afternoon’s photo shoot for you, Ok?”

Adrien leapt forward and embraced Nathalie with a hug. Caught off guard, the assistant dropped the tablet once again, only this time it fell onto the bed between them. “Thanks, Nathalie, you’re the best!” he cried, before letting go to curl back up under his sheets.

Nathalie picked the tablet up off the bed and started to make her way back to his bedroom door, “Your welcome, Adrien. Anytime.”

...

As Adrien slipped into his seat at the beginning of the new school day, he noticed the vacant seat behind him. He was about to turn around to ask Alya where Marinette was when the school bell rang and Ms Bustier entered the room to start the lesson.

The morning seemed to pass by slowly and after their Science test with Ms Mandeleiev, it was finally lunchtime.

Adrien packed up his bag and raced after Alya, catching her halfway down the hall, “Hey Alya, have you heard from Marinette today? Why isn’t she at school? Did something happen?”

Alya turned around and placed a hand on her hip, “You happened,  _ Loverboy _ ” she smirked.

“WHAT? Alya, what did I do this time? I haven’t spoken to her since yesterday!” Adrien exclaimed.

“Gotcha!” as she burst out laughing.

“Hey, Guys! Wait up!” Nino cried out, as he ran down the hall to catch the others.

“Sorry Nino, I just wanted to catch Alya before she did her  _ disappearing  _ trick that she does whenever Marinette is away from school” Adrien replied.

“It’s all good Dude. Ready to chow down some grub?” Nino asked, grabbing the other two by their wrists and dragging them to make their way back downstairs to find a place to sit.

“NINO!” Both Adrien and Alya cried out.

“What’s the rush for?” Alya asked.

“Shhhhh. Operation ‘ _ Adrienette’  _ is now about to commence” Nino whispered.

“What! Nino!” Adrien squawked, “Operation Adrienette? What’s that supposed to mean?”

Alya and Nino buckled over laughing hysterically, tears flowing from their eyes.

“Seriously Adrien? Surely you can't be that blind! Then again, it has taken you this long to realise that you have feelings for Marinette” Alya snorted, still laughing.

“Hey! I'm not that bad!” Adrien protested.

“Dude, you've gone from being as blind as a bat because of your love for Ladybug to being a lovesick puppy for Marinette in the space of less than 24 hours,” Nino exclaimed.

Adrien went to protest again but the words just wouldn't come out.

“See, I rest my case!” Nino said, folding his arms with a satisfied grin on his face.

“Alya, you still never answered my questions,” Adrien said, turning to face Alya and purposely trying to change the subject.

Alya groaned, “After everything that happened yesterday, her parents thought it would be best for her to rest up at home, so she told me that she’s up in her room working on a new design. She's basically telling me she feels like she’s under house arrest.”

“But, she's ok right?”

“Yes  _ Loverboy _ , she's perfectly fine otherwise,” Alya replied, rolling her eyes.

“Hey, could you ask her for permission to get her number off you so that I can message her about our Literature Assignment?” Adrien queried.

“Sure, if I have to. Anything right now to get you to stop bugging me about her!” Alya snorted as she pulled her phone out of her satchel, unlocked her phone and started typing.

‘Prince Charming wants to know if I can give him your number. Maybe you could re-enact your romantic balcony scene again for us!’ she snickered as she hit send and placed the phone down in front of her still open, waiting for Marinette’s response.

‘ALYA! That’s not going to happen and you know it! Sure, you can pass on my number to him. Could you ask him for me, when did he want to catch up next to work on the project?’ Marinette text back.

“Ooooh! She said yes, and she wants to know when you want to work on the project next? Here, pass me your phone and I can put her number into it for you” Alya replied, a little bit overly excited, “Yes! The ship is going to happen soon, I can feel it!”

“What ship?” Adrien asked, handing his unlocked phone over to Alya.

“Nothing you really need to know just yet,” Alya replied, trying to cover her tracks.

“Just how there’s a whole website dedicated to the two of you hooking up with over 100 followers already, thanks to Alya” Nino blurted out.

“NINO! I didn’t want them to know about that alright! The last thing they need to know is that I’ve been ‘shipping’ them and that I made a dedicated site about it!” Alya replied, rather annoyed with Nino.

Alya was too busy arguing with Nino to notice that Marinette had texted her again. Adrien noticed that a new message had come through, looked to see what was happening between the others and decided to stealthily swipe the phone and read the reply.

‘So, what did he say?’ Marinette text asked.

Adrien typed up his response, ‘He has a piano exam tomorrow morning, otherwise, he’s free all weekend’. He paused to read the text,  _ is this what Alya would say to her?  _ as his mind batting backwards and forwards over if he should send the message or not. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and hit send.

‘I’m pretty much free all weekend. I just need to help dad out in the bakery while mum takes a break Sunday morning. Would Saturday afternoon work for him?’

‘He said that sounds great! He will message you later to work out the minor details. How’s house arrest going?’ Adrien texted back.

‘Argh! It’s driving me crazy! I would rather be bound up like a mummy and go to school so I could gaze upon Adrien all day than being locked up in my room!’

Adrien almost dropped the phone reading her response.  _ Argh, how do I respond to that? How would Alya respond to that? _ he panicked. ‘It’s ok Gurl, at least all those pictures of him on your walls will keep you company!’

‘Yeah, but it’s not the same. Seeing how he talks to everyone, how the sun radiates and makes his hair sparkle and those eyes, oh how I love seeing those gorgeous green eyes. They make me melt on the inside every time he talks to me.’

And that was when everything started to make sense to Adrien. ‘Gurl, we really need to work on getting your emotions under control so that you can work up the guts to actually talk to him. There’s nothing scary about him, you just need to relax more’ He texted back.

‘That’s what Chat Noir said too!’

‘WAIT! WHAT! Since when has Chat Noir been coming to visit you?’ Adrien typed, checking his surroundings to make sure he was still in the clear.

Nino and Alya were still in the middle of their heated discussion over this  _ Adrienette  _ ship and trying to set both Marinette and Adrien up together but in their own ways.

‘Um… Nevermind, I’ll explain later tonight’ Marinette texted back.

‘Come on Gurl, you can’t just leave me hanging like that, you know!’ Adrien responded.

‘We kinda met when he was protecting me from Evillustrator but we didn’t really start talking until the night that Glaciator came to town. He’s been popping in ever since and it makes me wonder if he has someone other than Ladybug that he can talk too.’

‘Really! And you never thought once to invite me over when he has come around so I could interview him for the Ladyblog?’

‘Yeah, and that’s why I didn’t want to tell you. Besides, I never know when he’s going to come by.’

‘Well, maybe we could try and work out some kind of pattern so we might be able to predict his future visits. Then I can be there when he does!’ Adrien replied.

‘We can try. We’ll work on it tonight when you come over. Is it ok if we change the time to 6:30? Dad has asked me to come down to the bakery later to make up a new batch of macarons for them to sell tomorrow?’ Marinette sent back.

‘Sure thing. Anyway, I’ve gotta go now. Nino’s starting to bug me and the lunch break is almost over. I’ll keep an eye on Prince Charming for you and tell you all about it when we catch up later tonight then. I might even take a video of him if you’re lucky!’ Adrien texted back.

‘EEEEEEKKKKKKKK! ALYA! Ok, I’ll catch you tonight’ Marinette said, signing off.

Adrien quickly went into Alya’s camera mode and went about recording a short message to Marinette, “Hey Marinette, Sorry I missed you at school today. I hope your ankle is feeling better and I look forward to catching up with you at some stage over the weekend to work on our school project together. I hope you get well soon. I’ll talk to you later” as he waved goodbye before stopping the recording.

Looking around again, Nino and Alya were still distracted by their argument. Adrien quickly replaced Alya’s phone before anyone had noticed that it had moved, just as the end of lunch bell rang.

“Gawh,” Alya groaned, as she reached for her phone and shoved it back into her satchel before storming off to her next class, leaving the two boys behind baffled by her departure.

“Everything ok Nino?” Adrien asked.

Nino sighed, “Alya’s just a bit annoyed at me because we can’t see eye to eye about the whole  _ Adrienette  _ thing, that’s all. Nothing really for you to worry about, Adrien. It will all work itself out before the end of the day, I promise you, it always does.”

“If you say so, Nino. Anyway, we better head back to class before we’re late. I don’t particularly want to end my week with detention now too!” Adrien exclaimed.

“Yeah Dude, good point. Let’s get going” Nino replied as he picked up his things and the pair headed back towards the classroom.

As they settled back into their seats, ready for the next class to start, Adrien smiled to himself, he no longer needed to ask the hard question, he knew the answer just by pretending to be Alya for those few moments. She liked him, Marinette likes Adrien Agreste. And for the first time in a few days, everything made sense, and it made him feel warm and fuzzy deep down inside.


	11. Chapter 11 – Housebound

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette's POV - Marinette is stuck at home, so to take her mind off things, she decides to start working on Alya's dress for the Spring Dance. Around the time of her usual school lunch break, Marinette suddenly gets some unusual text messages from Alya. What will Marinette do and how will she cope?

###  **Chapter 11 – Housebound**

After her parents had told Marinette that she wasn’t going to school and was made housebound, Marinette pleaded with her parents to at least be able to have Alya sleepover that night.

“Please, mom, please! Can I at least have Alya come around after school for a sleepover to keep me company? Pllllleeeeaaaassseeeee”

“Don’t you think you’ve had enough excitement for the week, Marinette?” Sabine questioned her, “The things you two girls get up to some days, is definitely not resting”

“Oh, mum. I was planning a girl’s night in for us, you know, watching movies, talking about boys, that kind of thing. Nothing much that would require me to walk far or anything else.” Marinette replied.

“Are you sure that’s all you had planned for the evening?” Sabine asked suspiciously.

“Yes mom, I promise” She replied.

“Well, ok then, but no funny business alright” Sabine replied.

“Ok, Mom!” Marinette cried out, already halfway up the stairs to her room to make the call.

Once Marinette was up in her room, she closed the trap door so that Tikki could come out again.

“Argh! Tikki, today’s going to drag out because I have nothing to do all day!” Marinette cried.

“It’s ok Marinette. Why don’t you give Alya a call and organise tonight with her, then you can plan what you two can do over the course of the day? Also, now would be the perfect opportunity to start working on that dress you’ve been planning on making for weeks now” Tikki proudly chimed back.

“Oh My Gosh! I completely forgot about that!” She gently pulled Tikki in for a nuzzle hug at her cheek before pulling away and planting a kiss on Tikki’s head, “Thanks Tikki. I swear I’d be lost without you”

Marinette picked up her phone and facetimed Alya. It didn’t take long for her to answer it.

“Hey Gurl, how’s it going?” Alya asked as she came on the screen.

“Hey, Alya. My parents are keeping me locked up today so I won’t be at school, unfortunately,” Marinette said, looking distraught.

“It’s ok Gurl. At least you’ll be able to rest that ankle of yours without Chloe intervening and making your injuries worse!”

“True, but it’s still not the point! Things were strange between Adrien and I yesterday, it kind of left me wondering what’s going on or if he’s trying to prank me or something?” Marinette replied, voicing her confusion for the first time to Alya.

“Hun, I’d expect a prank like that from Nino but Adrien, no way! He’s too sincere and gentle to try and pull a stunt like that!” Alya replied in her ‘are you crazy’ tone.

“Yeah, you’re right Alya, But now I can’t see him today to find out what he will do next!” Marinette cried before letting out a huge sigh.

“Do you want me to do a little investigating for you?”

“No thanks Alya, I think this is something that I need to figure out on my own, but I’d be happy to talk to you about it later, maybe you might be able to help me straighten out my thoughts?” Marinette replied, before remembering the reason for her call in the first place and started to get excited, “OOOOO! I almost forgot Mom said that you can come around for a sleepover tonight! You can come around straight after school if you like? It would give us more time to talk about..”

“Adrien!” Alya laughed, “I have to look after my little sisters until my mum or dad comes home from work around 5:30 pm, so I can be there for 6 pm if that’s ok with you?”

“Awesome! I can’t wait”

“Anyway, I have to run, the school bell is about to ring and I don’t particularly want to be late,” Alya said with a wink.

“Ok, have fun and I’ll see you tonight!” Marinette said, waving down the phone line.

“Ok see you then! Alya, signing off” she waved before the screen went blank, signalling that Alya had hung up on her end.

As Marinette put her phone down, she looked over to the bolt of fabric that she had bought a couple of weeks ago for the special dress that she had designed.

“I don’t know Tikki, I don’t want to go ahead and make it only for it to sit in the back of my closet collecting dust. What would be the point to that and then when the time comes that I could wear it, what happens if it no longer fits properly?” Marinette asked Tikki.

“Something tells me that the dress wouldn’t be collecting dust for too long,” Tikki giggled.

“What? Am I missing something?” Marinette asked, with a confused look on her face.

“Oh Marinette, you’ll find out soon enough”

“Tikki you’re not helping me!” Marinette exclaimed.

“Don’t you have the Spring Dance coming up next week?” Tikki asked, trying to shift Marinette focus from the ‘who’ to the ‘what’ of the question.

“Yes, why?” Marinette replied, reluctantly.

“Oh silly, you don’t need a date to go to the Spring Dance! So you  _ CAN  _ wear that dress sooner than you think!”

“But Tikki, I wasn’t planning on going because I didn’t see a point”

Tikki gasps, “MARINETTE! So Adrien attending and possibly getting a chance to dance with him isn’t enough of a point for you to go?”

“Yeah. Wait, what did you say?” Marinette finally realised what Tikki was saying.

Tikki facepalmed herself, “Marinette, where is your head at right now? You really have me worried you know”

Marinette took a deep breath, “You know what, you’re right Tikki! I don’t need someone to go with, I just need to make the dress and go. Surely it might catch someone’s attention on the night and I know that Alya and Nino are going too! Argh, Tikki! Alya’s dress! I completely forgot all about it!” as Marinette made a mad dash back towards her desk, grabbing her sketchbook and drawing pencils to start working on a couple of designs for Alya to choose from.

The blue bolt of fabric will just have to wait.

…

A few hours had passed and Marinette, with Tikki’s help, had finally settled on 3 designs that she thought her friend would absolutely love. Now it was time to stop procrastinating and get to work on her own dress for the event. She was halfway through cutting out the skirt when her phone buzzed. Looking at the time, she jumped up and ran to her phone knowing it would be Alya texting her on her lunch break.

‘Prince Charming wants to know if I can give him your number. Maybe you could re-enact your romantic balcony scene again for us!’ Alya’s text message said.

Marinette completely freaked out, “Aaaarrrggghhh! Tikki! What do I do?”

“Calm down Marinette, just think about it rationally. There must be a reason for him to be asking you for your number, isn’t there?”

Marinette paused for a moment to think of what reasons Adrien might have to ask for her phone number, “Of course, the project! how could I forget! Thanks, Tikki!”

Marinette typed up her reply to Alya’s text, ‘ALYA! That’s not going to happen and you know it! Sure, you can pass on my number to him. Could you ask him for me, when did he want to catch up next to work on the project?’

She waited a couple of minutes for Alya to respond, but there was no answer.

“Huh, Alya doesn’t normally take this long to respond back,” Marinette said to Tikki.

“Then ask her again, silly” Tikki replied.

“Ok, OK”

She messaged Alya again, ‘So, what did he say?’

‘He has a piano exam tomorrow morning, otherwise, he’s free all weekend’ She finally responded.

Before Marinette could respond, she heard a knock on the trapdoor. “Entrez” she calls out.

To her surprise, her Father’s head popped through the trapdoor, “Excuse Marinette, do you think you could give me a hand making up a large batch of macarons after closing time? I’ve just had a large order placed for pick up in the morning and the shop has completely sold out of them already today”

“Sure, Papa. What flavours were you looking at making?”

“Well, the customer has asked for ‘Chocolate with Salted Caramel’ and ‘Rose and Vanilla’ flavoured ones. I was hoping that you would be able to make your ‘Mango White Chocolate’ and ‘Strawberry Lemonade’ ones for the shop as they are always so popular. Your macarons always seem to turn out better than mine, I must have taught you well then!” Tom smiled.

“Thanks, Papa,” Marinette replied.

“I’ll come and get you when the shop closes, then the apprentice can teach the master,” Tom said with a big smile.

Tom gently closed the trapdoor, walking back downstairs towards the bakery.

Marinette looked back down at her phone, realising that she hadn’t sent back a reply. ‘I’m pretty much free all weekend. I just need to help dad out in the bakery while mum takes a break Sunday morning. Would Saturday afternoon work for him?’ she sent back.

A moment later, she had her answer, ‘He said that sounds great! He will message you later to work out the minor details. How’s house arrest going?’ Alya replied.

Marinette squealed, “OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH! ADRIEN’S GOT MY NUMBER AND IS GOING TO GET IN CONTACT WITH ME, TODAY! ARGHHHHH!”

“Breathe Marinette, you’ll be fine” Tikki giggled, trying to keep a straight face to calm her friend down enough that she might be able to respond to the message. “You’ll have plenty of time to freak out once Alya goes back to class”

Taking in a couple of deep breaths, Marinette replied to Tikki, “Yeah, you’re right and Alya might end up facetiming me if she got suspicious if I take too long to respond.”

Marinette started tapping away on her phone again and hit send, ‘Argh! It’s driving me crazy! I would rather be bound up like a mummy and go to school so I could gaze upon Adrien all day than being locked up in my room!’

There was another long delay, “Tikki, this is really odd. Why would Alya take so long to respond? It’s not like her” Marinette said to Tikki, with a puzzled look on her face.

Just as Marinette was about to message her friend again to check if everything was ok, Alya finally responded, ‘It’s ok Gurl, at least all those pictures of him on your walls will keep you company!’

Marinette rolled her eyes, “Trust Alya to say something like that to me!”

“Well she does know you well, she is your best friend after all!” Tikki replied.

Marinette sighed as she typed up her response, ‘Yeah, but it’s not the same. Seeing how he talks to everyone, how the sun radiates and makes his hair sparkle and those eyes, oh how I love seeing those gorgeous green eyes. They make me melt on the inside every time he talks to me.’ She hit send, then looked up at the poster of Adrien from style magazine with him looking straight back at the camera.

Again there was another long pause before the next message came through.  _ Something has to be going on here. Alya doesn’t normally take this long to respond between texts unless she’s with Nino. Oh, Nino. Well, that might make sense or that there’s some kind of commotion happening that she’s trying to report on for the school’s blog. _

‘Gurl, we really need to work on getting your emotions under control so that you can work up the guts to actually talk to him. There’s nothing scary about him, you just need to relax more’ Alya’s message replied.

“Grrrr! Tell me something I don’t already know!” Marinette growled, then reading the second part again, “Hey Tikki, isn’t that just what Chat Noir said to me last night?”

“Sounds a little familiar, why?” Tikki asked.

“I don’t know, I must still be feeling the effects from my memory loss then” Marinette replied, feeling for the tender reminder still at the back of her head.

‘That’s what Chat Noir said too!’ Marinette text back.

Alya’s response came back faster than before after the last message, ‘WAIT! WHAT! Since when has Chat Noir been coming to visit you?’

“OOh, Um, Tikki, how do I get myself out of this one?” Marinette asked.

“Just tell her that you’ll explain later, she doesn’t have the time right now to know the full story, so she’ll just have to wait” Tikki replied.

“Ok, you know she’s going to start asking questions as soon as she walks in the door tonight then don’t you!” Marinette replied.

‘Um… Nevermind, I’ll explain later tonight’ Marinette texted back.

Another quick response from Alya came back, ‘Come on Gurl, you can’t just leave me hanging like that, you know!’

Marinette groaned ' _ she’ll just have to settle for the extreme shortened story then.' _

‘We kinda met when he was protecting me from Evillustrator but we didn’t really start talking until the night that Glaciator came to town. He’s been popping in ever since and it makes me wonder if he has someone other than Ladybug that he can talk too.’

Alya quickly fired back another response, ‘Really! And you never thought once to invite me over when he has come around so I could interview him for the Ladyblog?’

“Like I would have told her of my regular visits from one of Paris’ famous Superheroes! It might not take her long after that, to find out that I’m Ladybug and broadcast it to the world!” Marinette told Tikki.

“Exactly and that’s why we have to keep your secret identities just that, a secret”

Marinette sighed as she typed out her next response, ‘Yeah, and that’s why I didn’t want to tell you. Besides, I never know when he’s going to come by.’

‘Well, maybe we could try and work out some kind of pattern so we might be able to predict his future visits. Then I can be there when he does!’ Alya asked.

Marinette was starting to wish that she hadn’t slipped up and mentioned Chat Noir to Alya, she knew the Blogger wouldn’t let it go now that she had and groaned as she typed her response, ‘We can try. We’ll work on it tonight when you come over. Is it ok if we change the time to 6:30? Dad has asked me to come down to the bakery later to make up a new batch of macarons for them to sell tomorrow?’

Moments later, Alya had responded, ‘Sure thing. Anyway, I’ve gotta go now. Nino’s starting to bug me and the lunch break is almost over. I’ll keep an eye on Prince Charming for you and tell you all about it when we catch up later tonight then. I might even take a video of him if you’re lucky!’

“What! AAARRRGGGHHH! Why does she always have to pull those kinds of stunts on me?” Marinette grumbled.

‘EEEEEEKKKKKKKK! ALYA! Ok, I’ll catch you tonight’ She messaged back, “Pheeeewwwww! I’m kinda glad that’s over for now, but it still was a bit odd in places, don’t you think Tikki?” Marinette asked.

“I think you’re reading into it too much again, Marinette. You really need to stop overthinking things. Surely Alya was just being distracted by what was happening around her at school” Tikki replied.

“Yeah, I hope you’re right” Marinette sighed, as she put her phone back down and went back to cutting out the fabric for her dress.

…

After the texting break at lunchtime, Marinette absorbed herself back into the creation of her Spring Dance dress. She had cut out all the panels for her skirt and sewn around the edging to stop the fabric from fraying while she started embroidering her chosen design onto each panel.

She was halfway through the last panel when there was a knock on her trap door again.

“Entrez” she cried.

The trapdoor slowly opened and Marinette’s mom, Sabine popped her head through the opening, “Marinette dear, your Father asked me to let you know that he’s ready for you downstairs to make the macarons”

“Thanks, Mom. Can you please let Papa know I’ll be down in a few minutes, I just need to finish this small part that I’m working on right now.” She replied.

“Sure dear, I’ll let him know”

Sabine slowly closed the door behind her while Marinette finished the part that she was stitching. She gently ran her fingers over her work before setting it down at her workstation and was about to head out of her room as her phone rang with an unknown number coming up on the screen.

“Hello?” Marinette answered.

“Hey Marinette, it’s Adrien. How are you feeling today?”

Marinette jumped, startled by the sound of Adrien’s voice down the other end of the phone line, accidentally throwing her phone up in the air and luckily caught her phone before it hit the ground. “H… Hey Adrien. Yeah, um, I’m feeling a lot better today thank you”

“Thank you for allowing Alya to give me your number so I could call you about tomorrow.”

“That’s ok, no problems at all” Marinette replied.

“So I was thinking about what we talked about yesterday, you know, the differences in Romeo and Juliet between the Shakespeare of old and the modern take of it. What would you think if we reported back about how even though the tale is centuries old, it’s meaning and storylines are still current today?” Adrien asked.

“Oh, now I remember. Sure, I don’t see why not. I think it will be quite interesting to investigate”

“Great, so I was thinking, how does 2 o’clock tomorrow afternoon at my place sound to you?”

“Sure, I can be there for then,” Marinette replied, starting to lose her cool.

“That sounds great! Thanks, Marinette, I’ll see you then”

“Ok, Adrien thanks, then I’ll tomorrow see you.” Marinette facepalmed herself as the line went dead, “Oh Tikki, why can I never seem to get the right words out whenever Adrien’s around?”

“We can worry about that later Marinette, right now, you need to go help your Father” Tikki replied.

“Yeah you’re right Tikki, hopefully, we have some time before Alya gets here then” Marinette replied as the duo started heading downstairs to the bakery, to help Tom with the macarons.


	12. Chapter 12 – Gurl Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alya arrives at Marinette's place for their sleepover but Alya is early. When Marinette questions Alya about it being ok by her, Alya reveals that she never saw that message and the girls start investigating. The mystery behind the text messages is revealed.

###  **Chapter 12 – Gurl Talk**

“Hey Marinette,” Tom says, as he walked over to embrace his daughter in a hug, “How’s my girl feeling?”

“Hello, Papa. Yeah, I’m feeling good, thanks for asking,” Marinette replied.

“That’s great to hear. So, shall we get started then? I’ve already got all the ingredients out ready to go,” Tom replied. “Do you think that you could start measuring out the flavours for the ordered ones first while I crush up the almonds for the almond mix?”

“Sure Papa”

They both went about their tasks and once Tom had finished working the almond mix, the pair set to work whisking up the sugar and egg whites then folding in the other ingredients. Tom did the piping while Marinette tapped the trays and placed them into the oven.

“Marinette?” Tom asked, trying to make a little small talk.

“Yes, Papa?” Marinette replied.

“That boy that brought you home yesterday, what was his name again?” Tom inquired.

“Who, Adrien?” she asked, a bit curious as to why he was asking.

“Isn’t he the same boy from all those posters you have up on your walls?”

Marinette’s face went a bright shade of red, “Y… Yes, Papa. Why do you ask?”

“Oh, well, I guess, it just that, well, I can start to see why you like him so much, and he seems to have taken a special interest in you,” Tom replied, caught a little bit off guard.

“AARRGGHH! PAPA!” Marinette squealed, thankful not to have a tray of cookies in her hands at that moment or they would have been everywhere.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart. As you know, I am your Father, so I like to keep an eye on my little girl, especially now that you are of an age where you might consider someone to be more than just friends with. I’ve been watching Adrien since you first invited him over to practice for the Mecha Strike 3 gaming tournament, and I’ve been watching how he looks at you.”

Marinette’s jaw dropped open, she tried and tried but couldn’t find the words to speak.

“I can see that he has grown rather fond of you and seeing him with you last night when he carried you home and wanted to stay and look after you, reminded me of myself not long after I first met your mother.” Tom continued, “So, what’s happening between you two anyway?”

Marinette stood there in shock, still trying to process the conversation when the buzzer of the oven saved her for a brief time. Her father went to get the first batch of cookies out of the oven. He placed the trays down on the workbench to cool and looked back up to Marinette awaiting her answer.

“I… I… I don’t really know right now. I’m not sure what’s going on between us which is part of the reason why I asked if Alya could come around tonight. I feel so lost and confused right now and I don’t understand why. I just hope that Alya might be able to help me make sense of my emotions better than I can,” Marinette replied, hanging her head to the ground as if she was ashamed of what she was trying to say.

“Did I just hear someone mention my name?” Alya burst in, catching both Tom and Marinette off guard.

“Hey, Alya. You’re a little early, aren’t you?” Marinette replied, a little puzzled.

“No, I’m not. I’m right on time, 6 o’clock on the dot.” Alya said, “Why, what’s wrong?”

“Well, I wasn’t expecting you for another half hour because I knew I was going to be caught up here helping my father with a macaron order for tomorrow. You told me that it was ok when I asked you earlier about it.” Marinette said, still confused.

“Wait, when did I say that?” Alya asked, starting to get confused herself.

“At lunchtime today, silly.”

“But I only sent you 1 text message at lunchtime, then I put your number into Adrien’s phone for him and then I got into a heated discussion with Nino.”

“Then who was I talking to then?” Marinette said, starting to panic.

“I don’t know?” Alya replied.

“Ah, maybe you girls should sort this out upstairs then, don’t you think?” Tom asked, “Don’t worry about me, I am perfectly capable of finishing up down here on my own, ok.”

Marinette ran over to her father, hugged him and kissed him on the cheek, “Thanks Papa!” she cried as the pair raced up the stairwell to Marinette’s room.

“I wonder who it could have been,” Tom said to himself, “Oh well, I’ll find out soon enough.”

The two girls race through the trapdoor to Marinette’s room and Marinette closed it behind them as Alya threw her things down and reached for her phone. The pair sat on the chaise lounge together as they brought up the text conversation from earlier in the day.

“I don’t remember saying any of that! Though it definitely sounds like what I would say if it was me?” Alya exclaimed.

“But still, if it wasn’t you messaging me, WHO WAS IT!” Marinette said, completely losing her composure as the various names of people that it could have been, started running wildly through her head.

“Well, it couldn’t have been Nino either because we were busy arguing. The only other person with us at that time was… oh!” Alya stopped, before turning slowly to look at Marinette, “Um, I think I know who was messaging you, but I don’t know if I should really be telling you either.”

“ALYA!” Marinette was completely freaking out by now.

“Um… believe me, I wish that it was me talking to you, but, at least now he knows exactly how you feel about him. Isn’t that a good thing?” Alya replied.

“AAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHH! I TOLD HIM HOW HE MAKES ME MELT INSIDE WHEN HE LOOKS AT ME WITH HIS BEAUTIFUL GREEN EYES!” She screamed, caught somewhere between melting at her words and freaking out about him knowing, her emotions were tearing her apart.

“MARINETTE!” Alya said sternly, “don’t tell me that after all this time, you're getting cold feet about him, now that you know that he feels the same way about you, as you feel about him?”

Marinette’s jaw dropped in shock, she had no clue how to answer Alya. She just lowered her head to face the ground. “No,” She whispered. It was all that she was capable of saying, for the time being, she just couldn’t find the right words at that moment.

“Seriously gurl, it’s about time you two got together. You’re both been dancing around each other for ages now, you falling for him right from the start and Adrien slowly getting to know you but allowing his feeling for Ladybug overshadow you up until recently when he figured out that, that wasn’t the case anymore,” Alya continued, watching Marinette as she sat there with her head hanging down.

Marinette couldn’t lift her head up from the floor, she knew Alya was right. She could feel the tears starting to well up in her eyes and did her best to stop Alya from seeing them form and for them to start to flow down her face.

“You, Marinette, need to stop making up excuses that you’re not good enough for him. Honestly, if you were truly not worth something to him, would he be trying as hard as he is to pursue you and enter into a more committed and romantic relationship with you?”

“No” Marinette whispered.

“The poor guy is so confused right now! He’s scared that he may have been coming on too strong, that he thinks you don’t like him at all and that he’s scaring you off completely.”

“No” Marinette whispered again.

“NO! IS THAT ALL YOU CAN SAY? NO?” Alya was starting to get frustrated at the whole situation at hand and how Marinette was responding to it. She was hiding and Alya could see right through it. “WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU, MARINETTE!”

“I’M SCARED, OK! THERE I SAID IT. HAPPY NOW!” Marinette yelled. That was the tipping point and Marinette slid to the floor, balling her eyes out in a complete meltdown state.

“Ok,” Alya said calmly, realising that once again, she might have just pushed a little too far but in doing so, she was able to get the answers they both needed to hear at that moment. She slipped down off the chaise and onto the floor next to Marinette and pulled her best friend into a hug, rocking her backwards and forwards, “I’ve gotcha gurl. You’re gonna be alright, I promise.”

The girls spent the next 30 minutes on the floor together, Marinette balling her eyes out while Alya hugged and comforted her, before Marinette was all cried out and exhausted.

Once Marinette had stopped crying and had recomposed herself, Alya went to move so that they could both sit back up on the chaise together when her phone hit the floor, bringing up the mysterious text conversation from earlier in the day. She looked at the phone and reread the last message again that ‘Adrien’ had sent, posing as her, “No. He wouldn’t have, would he?” she quietly said to herself, as she flicked through her phone.

“He wouldn’t have, what?” Marinette quietly replied, a little confused by Alya’s sudden strange comment.

Alya stopped still looking at her phone, Marinette puzzled as to what was happening, joined Alya up on the chaise and looked down over her shoulder to see a picture of Adrien with a ‘play’ symbol in the middle of the phone screen.

“No way!” Alya said in complete shock, “this is so out of character, even for him!”

Marinette thought to herself, ‘ _ Yeah, it reminds me of someone I know, but who?’. _ Marinette nudge Alya in the arm before resting her head of Alya’s shoulder, “Well, are you going to press play?” she asked.

“Are you sure you’re ready to see whatever is in this video?” Alya queried, sounding a little concerned.

Marinette sighed, “I’m as ready as I’m ever going to be”.

“Ok. If you say so” Alya replied.

Alya hit the play button and the pair sat there in silence as they watched Adrien’s hidden, prerecorded message. “Hey Marinette, Sorry I missed you at school today. I hope your ankle is feeling better and I look forward to catching up with you at some stage over the weekend to work on our school project together. I hope you get well soon. I’ll talk to you later”. As the message ended, the screen was left with Adrien waving, with a big smile on his face.

“Can you see where I’m trying to come from now, Marinette? He wanted us to find that message so I could pass it on to you. It’s kind of a little romantic in a way, don’t you think? And just look at his face here,” Alya said, pointing to her phone screen of where the video ended, “He looks so happy Marinette and it’s all because of you!”

Marinette’s face was now turning red, “How could I have had such a huge impact on him?”

“Seriously Gurl, you don’t know? You’re probably the only girl who has been able to see him for who he really is, rather than his modelling status or by association to his father, Gabriel Agreste for starters,” Alya exclaimed. “I bet that Adrien’s probably told you and has shown you things that no one else knows because he can be himself around you. And I know if you think back hard enough, you will find little hints that shows how he feels about you and how much you mean to him.”

Marinette immediately remembered the lucky charms they both have. Her lucky charm that she gave Adrien during the Mecha Strike 3 gaming tournament, to help him gain more confidence in his gaming skills and the one Adrien made her in return as a birthday present. “My lucky charm. He has it with him all the time for good luck.”

“What lucky charm? Hey, when did you give him your lucky charm and why didn’t I know anything about it until now?” Alya cried, feeling a little left out.

“It’s got pink and green beads on a red cord. I gave it to him for good luck when we were training to compete in the school’s Mecha Strike 3 tournament together. Adrien wanted to give up because I was constantly beating him, so I gave it to him to help boost his confidence, and it worked. Now it never leaves his side,” Marinette replied, “I didn’t mention anything about it to you before because I didn’t think it was important.”

“With you Marinette, anything to do with Adrien is important,” Alya giggled.

Marinette started giggling too, “You know me too well!”

When the joke had passed, Alya turned ready to interrogate Marinette, “While I think of it, when were you planning on telling me that you were getting house calls from Chat Noir!” she sat there watching Marinette, waiting to see how she was going to wiggle her way out of this one.

“I… Ah… Um... It must have slipped my mind!” Marinette squirmed.

“Sure gurl, I believe you,” Alya replied, sarcastically.

“What! It’s only Chat Noir!”

“Exactly! It’s only one of Paris’ most famous superheroes and he makes house calls to you! I want the deets now, Marinette. The ladyblog needs to know!” Alya exclaimed.

“I don’t know why he’s decided to come to me of all people? I only met him when Nate was akumatized and he was protecting me, then we must have found common ground the night Glaciator attacked. He’s been coming over here and there ever since,” Marinette replied.

“Come on gurl, you could have messaged me or something to let me know he was here so I could interview him!”

“I could have, but by the time you would have gotten here, he would have been long gone because he doesn’t stay for long periods of time. It might be that he’s been out patrolling and he’s not sure how much time he might have left before his suit beeps.”

Alya sat there shaking her head, “Gurl, you really are something special, you know that?”

“Yeah, I’m your best friend for starters that spoils you with treats whenever you come around,” Marinette replied, with a smirk on her face.

Alya leant over to give Marinette a hug, “True, the food is always amazing and different to what I get back home, but that’s not what I meant here.”

“Oh, then what did you mean then?”

“Oh, Marinette! I can totally understand why you caught Nathaniel’s attention, you gave him attention and made him feel special in only a way that you can. You look out for others and since Ladybug came to town, your confidence in yourself has grown and attracted other people like Adrien and Luka to you too,” Alya said.

“Oops, I’d forgotten about Luka. I don’t know what to do about him, I mean, he’s kind, caring and really talented, but…”

“But he’s not Adrien!” Alya butted in.

“Alya!” Marinette squawked. “I mean, they both have so much in common. It’s just that Luka’s great company and I feel comfortable around him, but Adrien… Adrien just has to walk into the room I’m in or be around me and I lose my breath, have butterflies run wild in my stomach and my body just wants to soar like a bird flying in the wind,” she continued, her body going all lovey-dovey like as she flopped onto her back on the chaise. She felt as if she was in heaven.

“Sorry to have to burst your bubble Marinette, but what are you planning to do when you meet up with Prince Charming tomorrow? You can’t exactly look all gawky when you’re around him now. Why don’t you try and talk to him about how you feel about him? I’m sure after today, he’s figured out how much you like him, so you’ve got nothing to lose!” Alya asked.

“WHAT! ARE YOU CRAZY! I can’t just go over to his house and just come right out and tell him how I feel like that! It would make the rest of the afternoon really awkward for starters.”

Alya fell off the chaise laughing, “Awww, lighten up Marinette. I know you wouldn’t be able to do that just yet, you just need to let your confidence in yourself build up a little more before attempting that hurdle.”

Marinette sighed, before looking back down again, “Yeah, at this rate, that’s never going to happen.”

“Oh, don’t say that Marinette! I have a feeling that everything is going to work out just fine and sooner than you may think” Alya said as she pulled herself back up onto the chaise.

“Alya, please stop. I don’t want to get my hopes up only to have them shattered.”

“Trust me, gurl. You’ll see, it will happen before you know it.”


	13. Chapter 13 – Study Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saturday finally comes around and Adrien is excited to catch up with Marinette for their study date but when Marinette does arrive, Nathalie pulls Adrien aside for a little chat. There's a lot of nervous tension in the air. Will they be able to calm their nerves and work on their studies or will their emotions get the better of them?

###  **Chapter 13 – Study Date**

Adrien entered his bedroom after seeing off his piano teacher from his morning piano exam. Flopping onto his bed, he sighed with relief. He could finally start getting ready for Marinette’s arrival and the afternoon of studying that he had planned for the two of them. Just the thought of her coming around was making him feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

“So why didn’t you visit your Princess last night?” Plagg asked.

“I didn’t have to Plagg. I got all the answers that I needed to find out, straight from Marinette when I was texting her off Alya’s phone yesterday,” Adrien replied.

“But won’t they get upset when they find out that it was you texting and not Alya?” Plagg queried, sounding a little concerned that Adrien had missed a crucial part to his plan.

“Oh. I didn’t think of that at the time, sorry Plagg,” as Adrien’s thoughts clicked and a bit of dread ran through his mind at Plagg’s remark.

“Well, it’s too late now, kid. You’d better hope that they don’t get angry at you for it.”

“Well, we’ll find out soon enough,” Adrien sighed.

…

Marinette slowly walked up to the Agreste Mansion gates, nervous and with her emotions swirling more and more out of control inside of her with every step she took. She finally went to reach her hand up to push the doorbell when she was startled by a familiar voice.

“Hey, Marinette!”

She moved to look around to see where the voice had come from, eventually looking through the gate to see Adrien approaching her, waving as he came over to let her in.

“A… Adrien! I wasn’t expecting you to come to greet me at the gate!” Marinette squeaked, as a blush ran across her cheeks.

Adrien raised his hand to the back of his head to run his fingers through his hair like he always does when he gets a little nervous. “I just happened to be walking through the dining hall when I noticed you approaching the gate,” he smiled. Little did she know, he had been pacing the entrance hallway for the past 20 minutes, stopping every so often to open the door to see if she was there.

“Shall we head inside?” Adrien gestured, bowing slightly.

Marinette nodded as Adrien lead her up towards the entrance to the mansion.

“So, how’s your head and ankle feeling today?” Adrien asked.

“I keep forgetting all about that, I mean, my ankle is feeling heaps better, but I still have a bit of a lump on the back of my head that still hurts when I accidentally bump it, like when brushing your hair first thing in the morning and that,” Marinette replied, starting to ramble a little bit because of her nerves.

He thought about all the times that Chat Noir would come home from an Akuma fight with a lump on his head from Ladybug’s yo-yo collecting him as it reeled back into her hand.

“I’m so glad that your ankle is feeling heaps better. I wish there was a way I could help you with your head though, but I know where you’re coming from with those lumps. A friend of mine sometimes does something and I kind of end up on the receiving end, unintentionally of course,” Adrien replied, while they were walking up the stairs to the front door.

As they reached the top of the stairs, one of the doors swung open as Nathalie ushered them inside, closing the door behind them.

“Marinette, I’d like to introduce you to Nathalie. Nathalie is my father’s secretary as well as a close family friend. She’s also the one that helped convince my father to allow me to stay at our school and promised him that she would find a way to work my photoshoots and extra-curricular activities in around my school schedule,” Adrien said proudly.

Nathalie offered Marinette her hand for a handshake, “It’s a pleasure to finally be introduced to you, Miss Marinette. Adrien has told me so much about you,” Nathalie replied, in her usual business style manner.

“Th-Thanks, I think,” Marinette said nervously, as she shook Nathalie’s hand.

“Adrien, could I please have a quick word with you, before you both head on up to your room to study?” Nathalie asked.

“Um, sure. I’ll be right back, Marinette.”

“Ah, ok,” Marinette replied.

Nathalie leads Adrien into his father’s office. She closed the door behind them and walked over to him so that they could talk face to face.

“What is it, Nathalie?” Adrien asked.

“I take it that Marinette is the girl that’s been sending your emotions into turmoil over the past few days, isn’t she?” She said bluntly.

Adrien’s jaw dropped.

“And, by your reaction, I take it that I’m right too.”

“But…” Adrien tried to speak, but Nathalie cut him off.

“She seems to be a sweet girl. I can see why she has definitely taken your fancy. But Adrien, you must be careful not to get to carried away as your hormonal emotions could also lead you down a path that could ruin your career, and goodness only knows what your father would do to the both of us if that ever happened,” She said, voicing her concerns.

“But…” Adrien tried again, but still, no words could come out.

Nathalie stopped to look at Adrien and smiled sweetly before continuing, “You know, you both are still young and you have the rest of your lives to figure out what you want to do and who you want to be with. So, with that being said, if you truly think that Marinette’s the one, then pursue her alright, but take it slowly, baby steps even. Just because you’re ready, doesn’t mean she is just yet. Let her make that decision on her own and be there for her when she’s finally ready for you.”

Adrien’s face went from shock to a wide smile, “Thank you, Nathalie. It really means a lot,” he replied, as he jumped forward to give her a big hug. Letting go and taking a step back again as Nathalie straightened her clothes, Adrien said, “You always know just what to say,” he paused for a moment and looked down at the floor suddenly saddened, “Just like my mom use to do.”

Nathalie reached over and used her hand to lift up Adrien’s head by his chin, “Well, she did make me promise that if anything ever happened to her, that I was to help look after you. I guess watching her nurture you for all those years must have rubbed off onto me.” Nathalie paused a moment before continuing, “You know Adrien, she would be so proud of her little boy right now, growing up so fast and starting to become the beautiful man that she’d always dreamed that you would be.”

Adrien’s face lit up as Nathalie’s words about how his mother would think of him now started to sink in, it made him feel proud.

“Well, we better not keep Miss Marinette waiting too much longer for you, otherwise she might think that you’ve gotten cold feet and piked on her!” Nathalie said, changing the mood back again.

“Oh, yeah, right. Thanks again, Nathalie.”

“You’re welcome, Adrien.” she replied, then remembering the extremely important phone call she had received just prior to Marinette’s arrival, “Oh and Adrien, before you leave, I’ve just had confirmation that your postponed photoshoot will be taking place Monday afternoon, straight after school. This time I won’t be able to postpone it if something happens, got it?”

“Ok, I promise I won’t mess up this time,” Adrien called back, as he headed out the office door.

Once the door was closed, Nathalie looked up and walked over to the gold painting of Emilie Agreste that hung up on the wall down the other end of the office space and reached out to touch it.

“Oh, Emilie, where are you? Adrien needs you the most right now. I just wish you would just come home!” She sighed, “I wish we knew where you were or what happened to you so we could find you!”

Letting her hand slowly drop away, she stepped back and returned to her desk, looking back up at the picture again before settling back down into her work once more.

…

“I’m sorry I took so long,” Adrien exclaimed, as he hurried back out from the office to Marinette, “I’m just going to race to the kitchen and grab some light refreshments for us to share, while we're studying?”

“Um, that sounds great. I am a little thirsty from the walk over here,” she replied, as she watched Adrien disappear into the kitchen. A moment later, Adrien returned with a picnic basket that was filled to the top with assorted snacks and a couple of bottles of water.

“All set! Are you ready to get studying?” Adrien asked, sounding somewhat excited.

“Sure am,” Marinette replied.

The duo made their way up the stairs and into Adrien’s room. Marinette walked in and her jaw dropped.

“WOW! Your room is huge! I’ve never seen anything like it before!”

Adrien put a hand behind the back of his head to ruffle his hair again, nervously, “Oh, that’s right, you’ve never been to my house before have you?”

“Well actually, I was here when Nino was Akumatized as the Bubbler, but I only got as far as the front yard,” Marinette replied, knowing full well she had been in his room on a few occasions but as Ladybug.

“Well, had I known that before, I would have given you the grand tour. Maybe a bit later I could show you the rest of the place since I’ve got the opportunity while my father is away on a business trip,” He paused, “I don’t get the opportunity to have anyone, especially friends over when my father is home,” he continued, feeling like he’d dampened the mood.

Marinette walked over and placed a hand on Adrien’s shoulder as she looked at him. “Sure, I’d love to see the rest of the place,” she replied, watching his face light up with her answer.

“So where would you prefer to work? Over on the couch with the table or just here on the floor?” Adrien asked.

“I think just here would be fine. We can spread our books out that way.” Marinette started to giggle and looked over to Adrien who was giving her a very confused look on his face. “Oh, I’m sorry Adrien. It’s just that all we need is a picnic rug and we’ll have an inside picnic, a bit like the one we had in the park the other day.”

Adrien’s face went from been stunned to seeing the irony of the situation, “Well, I can always go grab a blanket for us to sit on? It might help us to remember and pick up from where we stopped the other day then?”

“Um, sure,” She replied slowly, confused and unsure if it was a good thing or a bad thing to want to try and pick up from where they left off. ‘ _ Why do I feel so conflicted to see what happens? Is Alya right, am I getting cold feet about my feeling for Adrien?’ _

“Ok, I’ll be back in a minute,” Adrien cried out, as he raced out his bedroom door in search for a blanket of some kind that they could use.

Once Adrien was gone, Tikki quickly flew out of Marinette’s purse, “Marinette, what’s wrong? You seem tense again.”

“What do you mean Tikki?”

“Really? Do I have to spell it out to you?” Tikki replied, feeling frustrated.

“Uhhh...”

“He’s not going to bite! He’s just trying his best right now to make you feel as comfortable as possible. He seems to be just as nervous as you are!”

Marinette laughed, “Yeah right, Tikki. Adrien never gets nervous.”

“Are you sure about that, Marinette?” The Kwami queried.

“Sure I’m sure, why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well, how about we put it to the test then if you're up to it?” Tikki suggested.

Marinette looked at her curiously, “What do you mean?”

“Ok, well how about over the course of your Study Date with Adrien, you leave your purse slightly open so I can see everything, then I can count the number of times I see Adrien make a gesture or sound that shows that he’s nervous. What do you say?” Tikki explained, “And if I’m right, you have to make me some extra special macaroons as a treat!”

“You’re on!” Marinette replied, shaking Tikki’s hand to seal the deal as she heard footsteps making their way towards Adrien’s room. “Quick Tikki, hide. I hear Adrien coming back.”

Tikki quickly hid back into Marinette’s purse as Adrien returned with a grin on his face and a blanket in his arms.

“I found one!” He announced proudly, as he opened up the blanket and laid it out neatly on the floor in front of Marinette. Once the blanket was down, Adrien grabbed the picnic basket full of goodies and his books, sat down on the blanket and patted a spot next to him, inviting her to sit down and join him. “I promise, I don’t bite!” he teased at her hesitation.

“Adrien! You don’t just go around saying something like that to just anyone!” Marinette squeaked, sending a slight red hue across her cheeks as she remembered Tikki saying the same thing just moments ago.

Adrien chuckled, “True, but you’re not just any person to me, are you now, Marinette.”

Marinette was startled, “And exactly what’s that supposed to mean, Mr Agreste?” she replied, turning away from him, pretending to do something important that didn’t involve eye contact with him.

“Well, wouldn’t you like to know!” Adrien teased her back. “Here’s the drink you were after. I also have some of the chocolate chip cookies you like a lot in the basket here too for you.”

Marinette froze at his words. ‘ _ He noticed’, _ she thought to herself before slowing turning back to him.  _ ‘I must be hearing things. He couldn’t have taken an interest in me, the clumsy disaster’. _ She slowly reached to take a cookie off the plate, quietly muttering “Thank you” to him.

Adrien just shrugged, “You’re welcome”.

As Adrien leaned over to grab one of the books off his pile, he watched as Marinette swiped another cookie from the plate, looked to see if he was watching or not then slid the cookie into her purse.  _ ‘So that’s where her Kwami is hiding and why she’s able to change so fast whenever there’s an Akuma victim. Interesting’. _

“So, I thought that we might be able to look through the original play and extract some of the scenarios that are very old-fashioned. Then we could watch the latest modern-day version on DVD afterwards and see how they have changed over the years. What do you think?” Adrien asked, sitting back up to face her after locating his copy of Romeo and Juliet.

“Oh, um, ok,” Marinette replied, nervously. ‘ _ Come on Marinette, pull yourself together! You have no reason to be nervous around him and he’s definitely not the kind of guy that’s going to try and pull a swift one on you. Just take a deep breath and relax.’ _

Marinette took a few slow deep breaths with her eyes closed while Adrien looked on with his head cocked to the side and a confused look on his face.

“Are you ok, Marinette?” Adrien asked.

Marinette’s eyes flew open and she jumped when she noticed that Adrien was staring back at her with a confused and concerned look on his face. “Ahhhh,” she cried, completely scared out of her wits.

Without thinking, Adrien swiftly moved over to her and pulled her into a warm, comforting hug. “It’s ok Marinette, I’ve got you. Everything’s fine, I promise,” he cooed, trying to help calm her down.

Marinette, stunned by his reaction, froze, locked within his embrace. She slowly breathed in his scent, _ ‘the cologne he always wears and… and is that cheese I smell?’ _ She didn’t care either way because, at that moment, she realised that she was in heaven. Marinette allowed her body to relax and let her head nuzzle into his chest before laying it there so she could listen to his heartbeat.

Adrien felt her body relax and allowed her to settle onto his chest. He then placed his chin on her head and closed his eyes to savour the moment.

Marinette felt too comfortable to move at that moment but noticed the sudden change in his heartbeat and what tension that was in his body disappear. Adrien’s heart rate had been racing just moments ago, but now it was slowing to a resting rate.  _ ‘Could Tikki be right? Am I making him THAT nervous?’ _

“Adrien?” Marinette queried.

“Mmm,” Adrien replied.

“Why am I making you so nervous?”

Adrien froze in shock with her words while Marinette noticed his heartbeat speed back up again.

“Me, nervous? Whatever would make you think that I was nervous?” Adrien responded as he lifted his hand to ruffle the back of his head.

Marinette shifted her body so that she could face Adrien and look him in the eyes. “Well, for starters, you always seem to do  _ that  _ whenever you’re either nervous or uncomfortable about something,” gesturing to his hand that had frozen mid-sentence.

“Do I?” Adrien replied, “To be honest, I hadn’t noticed before, but that doesn’t mean anything about me being nervous right now?”

“No, but your heartbeat does.”

Adrien’s jaw dropped before shifting it into a smile.  _ ‘Well, I guess there’s no better time than the present to tell her what’s going on emotionally with me. There would be no point in lying right now because she’d know and it would destroy any trust we have’. _

Taking Marinette’s hands, Adrien took a deep breath, “Marinette, I have something to tell you. I’m still trying to sort out my emotions and nor do I know how to explain it right now but I’m going to give it my best shot. I don’t know when or how it happened but I think I’m falling for you, Marinette, and I don’t mean just as a friend either, I mean more than a friend.”

And at that moment, Marinette started to feel light-headed again as the world around her fell into darkness.


End file.
